Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Fung et al. (2019) conclude the following based on a 2017 survey of California residents: …19 percent reported that they would not have purchased insurance had there been no penalty. We estimated that premiums would increase by 4–7 percent if these enrollees were not in the risk pool. The percentages of enrollees who would forgo…
As reported in NPR: A federal judge in Texas issued a ruling Friday declaring the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, apparently setting the stage for another hearing on the health care law by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor invalidates what’s commonly referred to as Obamacare nationwide, and casts into…
…are not very strong. Here are the penalties individuals will have to pay if they don’t have insurance: These penalties are not steep. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the cost of a single employer health insurance plan in 2012 was $5,615 and the cost of a family plan was $15,745. This means that in…
Today the Supreme Court upheld the large majority of Affordable Care Act (a.k.a., Health Reform, ObamaCare, ACA) including the individual mandate. Why was the individual mandate allowed to remain in the law? According to Justice Ginsburg and others, it is a form of a tax. “Justice Ginsburg makes clear that the vote is 5-4 on…
Today, the Supreme Court is deciding whether to let many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ACA, a.k.a. Health Reform, a.k.a. Obamacare) stand. One of the key provisions is the individual mandate. The individual mandate requires all individuals to purchase health insurance. If you don’t buy health insurance, you must pay a…
One of the key tenets of health reform is that insurers cannot charge different premiums to individuals based on their pre-existing conditions. Under this type of system, the optimal strategy for many individuals is to not buy any health insurance until one gets sick. Since insurers cannot charge these sicker people higher premiums based on…
The Healthcare Economist predicts a religious revival in 2014. Let me be more specific, in January 2014. How do I know this? Am I a religious man? Has God spoken to me? Let’s just say I have a certain insight. In 2014, the individual mandate goes into effect. All individuals must buy health insurance or…
While walking around in San Francisco’s Presidio, I noticed a refurbished building which happened to be a former Public Health Service Hospital. After investigating its origins, I dug up the following information regarding one of the United States’ first efforts to provide an individual health insurance mandate: “In July of 1798, Congress passed – and…
On Monday, a federal judge in Florida declared that the individual mandate in the health reform law is unconstitutional. Some people are excited; other are not. What does this mean for you? Today I will explain. Why is the individual mandate so important? As part of health reform (PPACA), insurance companies can no longer adjust…
Kolstad and Kowalski (2010) examine how the Massachusetts individual mandate affected uninsurance rates, hospital and outpatient utilization, and preventive care: “Among the population discharged from the hospital in Massachusetts, the reform decreased uninsurance by 28% relative to its initial level. Increased coverage affected utilization patterns by decreasing length of stay and the number of inpatient…