Following the 2020 presidential election, health care reform discussions have centered on two competing proposals: Medicare for All and an individual public option (“Medicare for all who want it”). Interestingly, these two proposals take starkly different approaches to employer-provided...

Two federal judges now tell us that the federal health law's individual mandate is unconstitutional. Three others disagree, and soon we will start to hear from appellate courts. But what if we put the legal arguments aside for the moment and focus on the real question: what happens to health...

We include insurance for addiction treatment in the standard rational addiction model and show that an increase in the level of insurance for addiction treatment induces a forward-looking individual to consume more of a harmfully addictive good currently. We test this implication using...

In December 2015 Congress enacted a two-year delay in the controversial excise tax on high-cost health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), postponing its effective date from 2018 to 2020 and making a number of other modest changes to the tax. Nevertheless, the tax remains wildly unpopular...

Health insurance mandates require health insurers to provide coverage for particular health services or illnesses. This paper examines how various state health insurance mandates influence premiums and enrollment in health insurance plans. Contrary to previous studies that compare premiums...

This paper examines accounts that can be used to pay for health care services on a tax-favored basis. Starting with health savings accounts (HSAs), the function of these accounts is described, followed by a discussion of issues related to the accounts, whether expectations for the accounts will...

We study the interplay between monetary policy and financial conditions shocks. Such shocks have a significant and similar impact on the real economy, though with different degrees of persistence. The systematic fed funds rate response to a financial shock contributes to bringing the economy...

The health landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean is changing quickly. The region is undergoing a demographic and epidemiological transition in which health problems are highly concentrated on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). In light of this, the region faces two main challenges: (1)...

We study the effects of Massachusetts' healthcare reform on individuals' subjective well-being. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we find that the reform significantly improved Massachusetts residents' overall life-satisfaction. This result is robust to various...

In the first two quarters of 2013 the Georgian government introduced and fully implemented a universal health care (UHC) plan covering all those not-yet publicly or privately insured. We estimate the effect of the introduction of the universal healthcare plan on the level of out-of-pocket (OOP)...