The papers in this symposium focus on two major issues of health economics in the context of President Clinton's Health Security Act: cost containment and labor market effects of financing insurance. The act proposes to limit public and private spending; a key issue is the extent to which,...

The forecast growth for Medicare spending has created a highly visible budgetary impasse between the president and Congress. Both favor the growth of health plans that accept risk and would promote them by creating less restrictive options than heretofore. Nonetheless, the conference bill the...

Hardly a week goes by without a front-page newspaper article on rising health care costs and the uninsured. In this article, I focus mainly on costs, arguing that the issue has been somewhat misconceived: while the level of medical care spending in the U.S. is a cause for concern, the welfare...

Victor Fuchs is a towering figure. His contributions to economics have spanned nearly 35 years. As his career has progressed, he has increasingly come to write on subjects of broad interest in a style that is accessible to noneconomists, thereby magnifying his influence. His gift is an ability...