Affordable Care Act
-

Narrow Networks For Mental Health Providers: Trading Cost For Access
•
In 2016, 45 percent of health insurance plans purchased on Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces were considered narrow network plans. Narrow network plans are defined as those that cover less than 25 percent of physicians in a specific geographic area. Amid rising health care costs, this is one of several…
-

Next Steps in Health Reform: An Interview with Kathleen Sebelius
•
Kathleen Sebelius served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 to 2014, where she was instrumental in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Prior to her service in the federal government, she served as Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009. We asked Secretary Sebelius…
-

Reducing Racial Disparities in the US by Increasing Contraception Coverage
•
On October 6, the Trump Administration rolled back the federal requirement that all employers must include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. As a result, some employees will be asked to pay for contraceptives on their own. By making contraceptives less affordable and accessible, this policy decision may…
-

Do People Move to Gain Medicaid Benefits?
•
The welfare migration hypothesis proposes the idea that people will move to a location because of the availability of social welfare programs. Frequently studied in international development, it is equally applicable to internal migration in the United States due to the wide variation in social welfare programs across states. This variation…
-

Expanded Medicaid Eligibility Reduces Debt for Low-Income Individuals
•
In 2009, when President Obama placed healthcare at the top of his agenda, the weight of healthcare costs on individuals was a driving media narrative. Stories about families losing their homes to pay for cancer treatments added a human face to the fact that medical expenses are one of the…
-

What Will Economic Policy Look Like Under Trump? A Conversation with Austan Goolsbee
•
While there is obviously a great deal of speculation regarding specifics, the general contours of President-elect Trump’s economic plan seem to include large tax cuts, particularly for wealthy individuals and corporations, aggressive deregulation of the financial and fossil fuel industries, a more protectionist stance on trade issues, and perhaps some…
-

Taking a Closer Look at Elderly Medicaid Recipients
•
Understanding how elderly individuals ultimately rely on Medicaid could be key to implementing changes that protect the fiscal longevity of both Medicaid and Medicare.
-

All Roads Lead to Health: Medicaid Expansion Could Be Valuable Regardless of Method
•
A new study finds that expanding Medicaid has significant positive effects for patients, but whether it happens via traditional Medicaid or private Marketplaces does not make much of a difference.
-

Using Value-Added Measures to Assess Healthcare
•
At the core of healthcare reform is the goal to maximize value for patients at the lowest cost possible. As is shown in this study, value-added measures can give valuable insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare providers.
-

Looking at Effects of Tennessee Medicaid Contraction on Adult Hospitalizations
•
A new quasi-experimental study sheds light on the mechanism through which Medicaid expansion translates into mortality reduction among newly insured populations.
-

The Moral Hazard of Bankruptcy
•
A new study finds that Americans use personal bankruptcy as a substitute for traditional health insurance, encouraged by stringent bankruptcy laws.
