healthcare

Dr. Mary Kopriva has joined ISER as an assistant professor of healthcare economics. At ISER, she is looking forward to analyzing questions about how economic policies can support women's and children’s health and promote health equity across the state. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from the University of Oregon and her B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from Creighton University. Prior to working at ISER, she spent a year teaching English in Bulgaria as a Fulbright Fellow.

ISER is partnering with the national non-partison research institution NORC at the University of Chicago to support the Alaska Healthcare Transformation Project.  The two research organizations will provide research and analysis of both Alaska-specific costs and programs, and national data and programs, to inform future decision-making in the state. The Alaska Healthcare Transformation Project is a collaboration between legislators, policy makers, state administration, healthcare industry leaders, patient advocates, and private payers to improve Alaska’s population health, improve patient experiences and lower the per capita healthcare cost growth rate.

All Americans spend a lot to get health care—but Alaskans spend the most per resident, face the highest insurance premiums, and have seen overall spending grow much faster. Jessica Passini, Rosyland Frazier, and Mouhcine Guettabi of ISER have compiled a chart book of  publically available information on health-care spending in Alaska and nationwide since the 1990s and highlight some trends in a new publication, “Trends in Alaska’s Health-Care Spending.”The chart book, available online, synthesizes a wide range of data and present it as an objective, easy-to-use resource.  The authors hope this broad information on trends in health-care spending will help Alaskans better understand what happened, consider possible reasons why, and think about potential ways to change the upward spiral.

A new report by Mouhcine Guettabi, Rosyland Frazier, and Gunnar Knapp of ISER analyzes the results of a survey of Alaska employers about what health-care benefits they offer employees. The Alaska Department of Labor conducted the survey, which covered businesses, local governments, and school districts statewide. The Alaska Health Care Commission contracted with the department and ISER for the work. The report finds, among other things, that two-thirds of Alaska businesses don't provide health-insurance, and the reason they cite most often is no surprise: it's too expensive. And although about a third of employees at Alaska firms work part-time or seasonally, very few of them carry employer-based insurance. Of those employees carrying insurance through their employers, 95% are full-time workers and only 5% are part-time or seasonal. Download the report, Alaska Employer Health-Care Benefits: A Survey of Alaska Employers (pdf, 1.9MB), by Mouhcine Guettabi, Rosyland Frazier, and Gunnar Knapp. A summary, Snapshot of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance in Alaska (pdf, 669.9KB), by the same authors, is also available. If you have questions, get in touch with Mouhcine Guettabi at mguettabi@alaska.edu or 907-786-5496.