The Case Study The United States has one of the highest healthcare costs in the world,...

  

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The Case Study The United States has one of the highest healthcare costs in the world, spending trillions of dollars on healthcare, which typically exceeds $10,000 per individual. Studies report that healthcare costs have gone up from 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 18% during the period 1960 to 2018. Moreover, a number of articles have suggested that predisposing personal characteristics, such as income, age, state, job etc. could possibly be related to the cost of health services. "The Americans dying because they can't afford medical care A December 2019 poll conducted by Gallup found 25% of Americans say they or a family member have delayed medical treatment for a serious illness due to the costs of care." Illustration: Mikyung Lee/The Guardian 2018-02-21 "Millions of Americans - as many as 25% of the population - are delaying getting medical help because of skyrocketing costs" Michael Sainato Tue 7 Jan 2020 20.00 AEDT Last modified on Wed 8 Jan 2020 22.13 AEDT "Young people, who are expected to benefit from lower premiums should the GOP repeal-and-replace efforts succeed, already pay the least. But even their costs can be considerable, depending on where they live. In 2016, the financial data site Value Penguin found that the average costs for coverage for a 21-year-old go from $180 a month in Utah, plus a $2,160 deductible (potentially $4,320 a year, total), to $426 a month in Alaska, with a $5,112 deductible (potentially $10,224 a year, total)." Published Fri, Jun 23 201710:52 AM EDT Updated Mon, Oct 14 2019 11:55 AM EDT "Average annual costs per person hit $10,345 in 2016. In 1960, the average cost per person was only $146 - and, adjusting for inflation, that means costs are nine times higher now than they were then." Published Fri, Jun 23 201710:52 AM EDT Updated Mon, Oct 14 201911:55 AM EDT "Americans pay a lot for healthcare. Depending on where they live, typical workers shelled out between $4,500 and $8,300 for healthcare in 2017. But the US government pays even more." Tanza Loudenback Mar 8, 2019, 12:25 AM The UnitedHealth Group: America's most prominent health insurance provider aims to identify the characteristics of the population to improve their understanding of the potential influence of these characteristics on their high medical costs billed by an insurance provider. They have access to a sample of US Health Insurance data containing 1338 insured personnel with their Age, Sex, Body Mass Index, Number of Children, Smoking status, Region and Insurance charges. You are a Data Analyst working for United Health Group. Your Manager - Edmond Kendrick has asked you to conduct a preliminary analysis. In particular, you are expected to apply a series of statistical techniques and produce a report based on your findings. Edmond's email is reproduced on the next page. Hi, As per our conversation, I have spoken with our reporting team and we have following questions relating to the US health insurance data. Please complete the following analysis for me. Your responses will assist them in writing the feature section of our next issue. 1. Provide your insights on how the specific attributes of the whole insured population is affecting their insurance premiums based upon our sample data: (a) An estimate of the difference in medical costs for a female versus a male (b) An estimate of the difference in medical costs for a single person versus someone with a family (c) Males with no dependents have claimed that they have, on average, been charged more than their female counterparts. Can you check whether this claim is possibly true? (d) We would also like to know if there is gender bias in smoking behaviours. Specifically, is there a greater proportion of males who are smokers compared to females? Can you check whether this claim can also be substantiated? Briefly advise the findings in regard to the proportion of males and females who are smokers. 2. 3. 4. 5. Can you further analyse to see whether the beneficiary's residential area/region in the US affect how health insurance provider bill their medical costs? We believe that individual medical costs billed by health insurance differs significantly across age group of primary beneficiary (young adults: 18 to 35 years; middle age: 36 to 55 years; and older adulthood: 56 years and older) with their smoking behaviour. Is there any evidence to support this assertion? What associations, if any, exists focusing on smokers in the diverse age groups? We are interested in comparing the smoking behaviour of primary beneficiaries across each of the Body mass index levels (Under, Normal, Overweight, and Obese). Could we say that there are differences in the proportion of smokers across the four BMI levels? Further, some studies have claimed that the heavy smoking is often associated with higher body mass index (BMI). Could we reach a similar conclusion for all beneficiaries? Finally, we are in the process of planning tailored professional development and technical training sessions to enhance our team's skills as directed by the HR Division. Please ensure that you send a copy of your professional development plan, in particular, your career goals for improving yourself as a data analyst at United Health Group (beyond meeting your specific performance goals) in terms of where you are now and where you aspire to go. The Case Study The United States has one of the highest healthcare costs in the world, spending trillions of dollars on healthcare, which typically exceeds $10,000 per individual. Studies report that healthcare costs have gone up from 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 18% during the period 1960 to 2018. Moreover, a number of articles have suggested that predisposing personal characteristics, such as income, age, state, job etc. could possibly be related to the cost of health services. "The Americans dying because they can't afford medical care A December 2019 poll conducted by Gallup found 25% of Americans say they or a family member have delayed medical treatment for a serious illness due to the costs of care." Illustration: Mikyung Lee/The Guardian 2018-02-21 "Millions of Americans - as many as 25% of the population - are delaying getting medical help because of skyrocketing costs" Michael Sainato Tue 7 Jan 2020 20.00 AEDT Last modified on Wed 8 Jan 2020 22.13 AEDT "Young people, who are expected to benefit from lower premiums should the GOP repeal-and-replace efforts succeed, already pay the least. But even their costs can be considerable, depending on where they live. In 2016, the financial data site Value Penguin found that the average costs for coverage for a 21-year-old go from $180 a month in Utah, plus a $2,160 deductible (potentially $4,320 a year, total), to $426 a month in Alaska, with a $5,112 deductible (potentially $10,224 a year, total)." Published Fri, Jun 23 201710:52 AM EDT Updated Mon, Oct 14 2019 11:55 AM EDT "Average annual costs per person hit $10,345 in 2016. In 1960, the average cost per person was only $146 - and, adjusting for inflation, that means costs are nine times higher now than they were then." Published Fri, Jun 23 201710:52 AM EDT Updated Mon, Oct 14 201911:55 AM EDT "Americans pay a lot for healthcare. Depending on where they live, typical workers shelled out between $4,500 and $8,300 for healthcare in 2017. But the US government pays even more." Tanza Loudenback Mar 8, 2019, 12:25 AM The UnitedHealth Group: America's most prominent health insurance provider aims to identify the characteristics of the population to improve their understanding of the potential influence of these characteristics on their high medical costs billed by an insurance provider. They have access to a sample of US Health Insurance data containing 1338 insured personnel with their Age, Sex, Body Mass Index, Number of Children, Smoking status, Region and Insurance charges. You are a Data Analyst working for United Health Group. Your Manager - Edmond Kendrick has asked you to conduct a preliminary analysis. In particular, you are expected to apply a series of statistical techniques and produce a report based on your findings. Edmond's email is reproduced on the next page. Hi, As per our conversation, I have spoken with our reporting team and we have following questions relating to the US health insurance data. Please complete the following analysis for me. Your responses will assist them in writing the feature section of our next issue. 1. Provide your insights on how the specific attributes of the whole insured population is affecting their insurance premiums based upon our sample data: (a) An estimate of the difference in medical costs for a female versus a male (b) An estimate of the difference in medical costs for a single person versus someone with a family (c) Males with no dependents have claimed that they have, on average, been charged more than their female counterparts. Can you check whether this claim is possibly true? (d) We would also like to know if there is gender bias in smoking behaviours. Specifically, is there a greater proportion of males who are smokers compared to females? Can you check whether this claim can also be substantiated? Briefly advise the findings in regard to the proportion of males and females who are smokers. 2. 3. 4. 5. Can you further analyse to see whether the beneficiary's residential area/region in the US affect how health insurance provider bill their medical costs? We believe that individual medical costs billed by health insurance differs significantly across age group of primary beneficiary (young adults: 18 to 35 years; middle age: 36 to 55 years; and older adulthood: 56 years and older) with their smoking behaviour. Is there any evidence to support this assertion? What associations, if any, exists focusing on smokers in the diverse age groups? We are interested in comparing the smoking behaviour of primary beneficiaries across each of the Body mass index levels (Under, Normal, Overweight, and Obese). Could we say that there are differences in the proportion of smokers across the four BMI levels? Further, some studies have claimed that the heavy smoking is often associated with higher body mass index (BMI). Could we reach a similar conclusion for all beneficiaries? Finally, we are in the process of planning tailored professional development and technical training sessions to enhance our team's skills as directed by the HR Division. Please ensure that you send a copy of your professional development plan, in particular, your career goals for improving yourself as a data analyst at United Health Group (beyond meeting your specific performance goals) in terms of where you are now and where you aspire to go.

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1 a An estimate of the difference in medical costs for a female versus a male In the sample data the average medical cost for males was 9213 while the average medical cost for females was 8837 This su... View the full answer