COVID-19 in California: An update

A few updates on COVID-19 from where I am living. First while we see a dramatic decline in COVID-19 infections and deaths, there is a fair amount of regional variation within California. The Sacramento Bee reports that: The average number of new COVID infections reported each day dropped by an astounding 98% from December to…

Good News-Bad News in Covered California

First the good news, it appears that the Covered California marketplace is working.  People are selecting lower cost options and forcing insurers to compete.  Gabel et al. (2017) state that …the average purchased price for all plans was 11.6 percent less than the average offered price in 2014, 13.2 percent less in 2015, and 15.2 percent less in…

Covered California and Adverse Selection

The Affordable Care Act requires all individuals to be offered the same premium regardless of health status. Although there are some ratings bands based on age and smoking status, most people who purchase insurance on health insurance exchanges receive the same premium for any given insurance product from any given insurance company. The insurance products…

California Hospitals Charge Fair Prices to the Uninsured

Why is that?  Because in 2006 California passed the Hospital Fair Pricing Act.  Melnick and Fonkych (2013) describe the bill as follows. The Hospital Fair Pricing Act…mandated that hospitals develop formal, written financial assistance policies and limit the  prices they charge uninsured patients with low to moderate incomes…Under the law, hospitals must limit the amounts they collect from…