Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
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…
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…
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…
Could it be the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare)? Some small businesses think so. The Washington Post speaks with a number of small business owners: These changes are less than a year away, and I still have no information about how much our premiums are going to cost…It definitely gives me pause when thinking about…
Health reform has expanded Medicaid access to millions of Americans. The question is, will the poor even want Medicaid insurance? As finances are tightening, many states are attempting to reduce the generosity of their current Medicaid benefits. In California, (where Medicaid is known as Medi-Cal), Governor Jerry Brown wants to reduce Medicaid’s benefit generosity. He…
One of the key components of Health Reform (a.k.a. Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act) is the creation of Health Insurance Exchanges. Not any plan can participate in the exchanges however. First, these plans must cover certain Essential Health Benefits (EHB). Second, the plans must meet certain actuarial value (AV) thresholds. Health Plans are grouped…
The answer is $0. “But Healthcare Economist,” you may say, “I know that my employer contributes $X to my health insurance so this must be false. Further, businesses always complain about the high cost of health insurance.” Although businesses do contribute to your health insurance in a nominal way, these contributions are almost entirely offset…
Yes and no: The conservative case for Obamacare. There is no conservative case for Obamacare. Other interesting reads for your Thursday morning. How Salma Hayek can help you pick the President. “The worst case of hyping cancer cures I’ve ever seen” Variation in hospital use of intensive care. What share of Americans has less than…
Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates may be more similar than they at fist appear. Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney stated the following on Meet the Press: “I’m not getting rid of all of healthcare reform.” What types of things would Romney keep? “Of course there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform…