Consider two individuals whose utility function over wealth I is ?(?) = √?. Both people face a 10 percent chance of getting sick, and foreach the total cost of illness equals $50,000. Suppose person A has a total net worth of $100,000, and person B has a total net worth of $1,000,000. Both people have the option to buy an actuarially fair insurance contract that would fully insure them against the cost of the illness. a. Using expected utility calculations, show that person A would certainly buy full, actuarially fair insurance. b. Suppose an insurance company wants to maximize profits and wants to charge each customer the maximum price they are willing to pay. How much should the insurance company charge each client so that both buy the contract? c. What is surprising about your result in part b? What does this tell you about how insurance companies may be pricing health insurance contracts in the real world?
Consider two individuals whose utility function over wealth I is ?(?) = √?. Both people face a 10 percent chance of getting sick, and foreach the total cost of illness equals $50,000. Suppose person A has a total net worth of $100,000, and person B has a total net worth of $1,000,000. Both people have the option to buy an actuarially fair insurance contract that would fully insure them against the cost of the illness.
a. Using expected utility calculations, show that person A would certainly buy full, actuarially fair insurance.
b. Suppose an insurance company wants to maximize profits and wants to charge each customer the maximum price they are willing to pay. How much should the insurance company charge each client so that both buy the contract? c. What is surprising about your result in part b? What does this tell you about how insurance companies may be pricing health insurance contracts in the real world?
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