Violations of Service Fairness and Legal Ramifications: The Case of the Managed Care Industry

Adapted from Chan's (2000) model depicting success of litigation, this paper argues that with the application of various legislation, health maintenance organizations' (HMOs') violations of service fairness to each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals give rise to each group's lawsuits against the HMOs. Various authors (Bowen et al., 1999; Seiders and Berry, 1998) indicate that justice concepts such as distributive, procedural, and interactional justice can be applied to the area of service fairness. The violation of these underlying justice principles with HMOs' service unfairness to enrollees, physicians, and hospitals is examined. A general synopsis of the ethical issues in the managed care industry is provided. The various lawsuits launched by each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals together with the key statutes used are discussed. This paper also highlights the provisions and ramifications of the 11 April 2000 landmark agreement that Aetna made with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to settle the 1998 lawsuit brought against the company. Lastly, the current ethical issues in the managed care industry are further discussed. The value of this paper can be adapted to the study of organizations' service fairness violations in other industries or in the educational, governmental, and not-for-profit sectors both nationally and internationally.     

Relationships among pay inequity,perceptions of procedural justice,and organizational citizenship

This study explored relationships between employee dissatisfaction with pay, perceptions of procedural justice, and organizational citizenship behavior. It was hypothesized that pay inequity would be negatively related to citizenship, while favorable perceptions of procedural and interpersonal justice would be positively related. Results provided strong support for the hypotheses only with regard to a dimension of citizenship labeled “compliance.” Implications for employee behavior in the workplace and the expression of grievances are discussed; future research directions are also offered.     

个人所得税统计数据反映的两个经济现象

自改革开放以来,个人所得税保持着稳定的增长趋势,反映了我国国民收入分配结构的变迁,同时,作为一种制度,个税制度正在成为越来越重要的一种国家干预经济的手段。作为初次分配的一种直接反映,个人所得税比重的地域差异、结构差异反映着我国的收入差距和分配公平问题。     

Towards an operational sustainability criterion

This paper examines the concept of sustainability and its implications for environmental policy analysis. It builds on the premise that present society holds a moral obligation to pass on a world of undiminished life opportunities to members of future generations. Maintaining life opportunities, in turn, can be achieved by maintaining or improving a diverse set of resources and capabilities that support a person's freedom to define and pursue her own conception of the good life. On an operational level, this framework points to the following guideline for environmental policy: Protecting the rights of future generations requires either the conservation of environmental resources or compensatory measures (including the provision of substitute technologies) that ensure the fair and proportionate sharing of net benefits over intergenerational time scales. In this framework, resource depletion is permissible only if (with reasonable certainty) it would generate a Pareto improvement relative to a baseline scenario involving strict resource conservation.     

浅析现阶段我国收入分配中的公平问题

现阶段,我国收入差距不断拉大,收入分配不公平的问题已经凸现,严重影响了社会主义和谐社会的发展.要解决收入分配存在的问题,必须正确理解公平原则,切实有效地采取措施调节收入分配,在分配领域特别是在再分配领域中更加注重公平,逐步实现公平与效率有机的、动态的结合,促进社会的和谐发展.     

对金融活动公平性的伦理关注

在世界金融发展中,金融活动的公平性已经成为金融发展的重要标志之一。中国金融活动的公平问题亦是一个难以回避的问题,对中国金融公平性的关注,不只是对金融活动的伦理关注,也是对金融活动自身完善性的表现。在中国现代金融建设中,如何体现金融活动的公平性是一项长期而艰难的任务,是金融业健康发展的内在动力。     

司法者激励对司法公正影响的模型分析

司法公正与法官激励是当前司法领域中所面临的最为紧迫而关键的问题.本研究运用博弈论来模拟现实的审判过程.通过分析基于个人效用最大化的法官最优选择的基础上来研究法官的法律遵从度、工作勤勉程度、工资收入、外部干预(如贿赂)、司法权的有效配置等重要因素对法官裁判的影响,进而解决社会所获得的公正执法水平.对于不同法律遵从度的法官而言,贿赂、工资等因素的影响是不同的.提高法官法律遵从度并调整法官与社会之间的效用关系,从制度上实现司法权的有效配置,对于实现司法公正至关重要.这为解决当前司法领域所存在的问题提供了理论依据和方法.     

实现社会公平是政府财政不可推卸的责任

当前我国在收入分配上出现了比较严重的分配不公现象,分配不公问题已经严重的影响了我国经济和社会的发展,分析其产生的原因,除了经济方面以外,还有其他方面,本文主要从政府行为方面做一些分析,以求在政府财政政策方面做一些探讨。     

从"兼顾公平"到"更加注重公平"的若干思考

自党的十四大以来,关于效率和公平的提法,经历了“兼顾效率与公平”———“效率优先、兼顾公平”———“更加注重公平”的三大变化。每一个提法都有客观背景,其中“效率优先、兼顾公平”的提法占统治地位12年之久。目前,这一提法已经不符合当前形势的要求,应由“更加注重社会公平”来取代,这是促进社会和谐的要求。     

The Wealth Effects of Fairness Opinions in Takeovers

This paper explores the wealth effects associated with a bidder's decision to solicit a fairness opinion in a takeover transaction. Using a hand‐collected sample with bidders’ filing proxy statements, this paper finds that the use of fairness opinions does not negatively affect bidder shareholders’ wealth, a finding that contradicts prior studies’ findings. In addition, I find a positive wealth effect associated with bidder use of fairness opinions in the post‐Rule 2290 period. Collectively, these results are consistent with a fairness opinion being used by bidder management as a means to facilitate transactions rather than a mechanism to entrench management.