Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Known as Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a long, confusing law But if you are an avid reader of the Healthcare Economist, you don’t have to be confused. For your reference I have created an Obamacare Overview page that summarizes the most important ACA provisions.
As describe in this recent Health Affairs article, as of 2011, your likelihood of being offered health insurance looked like this: Courtesy of Health Affairs. How will the ACA affect the share of individuals who receive coverage (and what type of insurance coverage they receive). This table describes some of the consequences. Courtesy…
The start of health insurance exchanges, the most important provision of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) began allowing individuals to enroll today. The start was somewhat inauspicious. The start of “Obamacare” coincides with a federal government shutdown. Additionally, some exchanges websites, including healthcare.gov, were not operational due to user volume. Nevertheless, today is a…
The house has passed a bill that would defund Obamacare. Although passage in the Senate is unlikely, this marks a significant roadblock to implementing the Affordable Care Act and could cause a government shutdown. The New York Times reports: The Senate is expected to reject decisively a House bill that would delay the full effect…
In terms of the level of premiums, the answer is yes, these plans are relatively affordable. The Wall Street Journal reports that: Across the country, the average premium for a 27-year-old nonsmoker, regardless of gender, will start at $163 a month for the lowest-cost “bronze” plan; $203 for the “silver” plan, which provides more benefits…
Leading health economists Jay Bhattacharya, Amitabh Chandra, Michael Chernew, Dana Goldman, Anupam Jena, Darius Lakdawalla, Anup Malani and Tomas Philipson claim the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare) has its problem. Although it expands health insurance coverage to more individuals, it will cause tax rates to rise in order to cover the estimated $1 trillion of…
The title of the Institute of Medicine’s recent report “Target Decision-makers, Not Geography” at first glance appears to be an indictment of the work of the Dartmouth Atlas, which largely claims that policymakers can reduce healthcare spending by targeting the highest spending geographic areas. A more detailed review shows that the empirical findings from IOM…
Views on the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare, a.k.a. Health Reform) are mixed. Despite the fact that many people support individual provisions, overall, the measure is unpopular. Why would that be the case? A revealing Health Affairs interview with Cythnia Morgan, may reveal the answer. Morgan is a fifty-eight-year-old former hotel manager, has been out…
Recently in the news, a psuedo-randomized trial of Oregon’s Medicaid expansion found that people with Medicaid used more healthcare services. They use more doctor visits, more medications and even a few more ER visits and hospitalizations (though these last two were not statistically significant). Some policymakers believed that insurance will decrease ER visits and hosptializations…
In the health insurance exchange, premiums will rise significantly. At least according to Robert Laszewski of Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review: One of the reasons health insurance in the exchange will cost a lot more in most states is because the new health law outlaws many of the existing plans now being offered and…