This paper examines the question of whether wealthy middle-class families are sheltering large sums of money in abusive financial arrangements in order to qualify for Medicaid benefits for nursing home patients, possibly endangering the fiscal integrity of the program. This paper argues that the...

In early 2004, the U.S. Government initiated the Medicare Discount Drug Card Program, which created a market for drug cards that allowed their subscribers to obtain discounts on their prescription drug purchases. Pharmacy-level prices for several drugs were posted on the program website weekly...

One of the main goals of public health insurance expansions is to increase access to health care services, but doing so may require providers to move to previously underserved areas. Whether and to what extent any such relocation occurs remains an open question. I study how providers choose...

This paper analyzes primary care physicians' (PCP) response to fee-for-service pricing as the degree of urbanity varies. Data analysis of Medicare microdata documents that PCP provide more (remunerative) specialty procedures in less urban areas, where specialists are fewer. Using a structural...

The ACA requires insurers to provide cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) to low-income consumers on the marketplaces. We link 2013-2015 All-Payer Claims Data to 2004-2013 administrative hospital discharge data from Utah and exploit policy-driven differences in the value of CSRs that are solely...

Objectives: Medicare Part D is the voluntary program that provides insurance for prescription drugs to 37 million US elderly. This form of public insurance is delivered exclusively through a choice-based private insurance market, where Medicare pays various types of subsidies. The objective of...

Medicare pricing is known to indirectly influence provider prices and care provision for non-Medicare patients; however, Medicare's regulatory externalities are less well-understood. We study such implications by examining how physicians' outpatient surgery setting preferences respond to the...

Expanding insurance coverage could, by insulating patients from having to pay full cost, encourage the utilization of arguably unnecessary medical services. It could also eliminate (or at least diminish) the need for emergency services through increasing access to preventive care. Using publicly...

I study the demand for health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic using Special Enrollment Period (SEP) individual-level enrollment data from the Washington State Affordable Care Act Marketplace. I document that most individuals enrolling in plans during the pandemic are those who lost...

Medicare, accounts for roughly 20% of medical expenditures in the United States and is the dominant payer for many treatments. Consequently, Medicare payment policy may have diffuse consequences. Using a contemporary bundled payment reform (the “CJR” program) and a difference-in-differences...