Vitamin Information Center

Adverse Selection
Definition
Adverse selection refers to a situation in which individuals
are able to purchase health insurance at a premium
that is below actuarially fair premiums. Adverse selection
occurs because of information asymmetries: consumers
are better informed about their health status than
health insurers are. The consequence of adverse selection
of unregulated health insurance markets is market
instability.

Synonyms
Absence from work; Absence from workplace
Definition
Absenteeism is a general term for habitual absence
from a duty or obligation. In occupational health, it
refers to nonattendance when expected to work, for any reason at all, medical or otherwise. Absence from work
is not really a medical phenomenon. It can be viewed
as a “social” disease of workers that is symptomatic of
underlying faults in their  working environments, and
it falls within the realm of occupational health. Sickness
absence is a convenient term for absence from
work attributed to sickness or injury and accepted as
such by the employer or social security system. Sickness
absence is a complex phenomenon and is not necessarily
the same as the health status of the individual
or sickness in a society. Some sickness absence and
some absenteeism for other reasons may be regarded
as objectively necessary and, therefore, acceptable and
normal. Absenteeism becomes abnormal – in medical
terms, “pathological” – when it is excessive. This may
refer to workday loss or frequency of absence.