'Cure acceleration' funds woven into health reform legislation

Health insurance reform legislation.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), enacted on August 21, 1996 (Public Law 104-19), provides for improved access and renewability with respect to employment-related group health plans, to health insurance coverage sold in connection with group plans, and to the individual market (by amending the Public Health Service Act). The Act's provisions include improv...

How health reform legislation will affect Medicare beneficiaries.

Despite criticism that health reform legislation will result in cuts to Medicare, the bills passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as President Obama's proposal, contain provisions that would strengthen the program by reducing costs for prescription drugs, expanding coverage for preventive care, providing more help for low-income beneficiaries, and supporting accessible,...

Health Reform, Health Insurance, and Selection: Estimating Selection into Health Insurance Using the Massachusetts Health Reform.

Approximately 49.9 million people in the United States lack health insurance (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor and Smith (2011)). One potential driver of uninsurance is asymmetric information on health risk between insurers and the insured. Asymmetric information can distort available insurance contracts, as in Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976), or it can raise premiums for the relatively healthy, as in Aker...

Bringing values into health care reform.

Nber Working Paper Series Health Reform, Health Insurance, and Selection: Estimating Selection into Health Insurance Using the Massachusetts Health Reform

We implement an empirical test for selection into health insurance using changes in coverage induced by the introduction of mandated health insurance in Massachusetts. Our test examines changes in the cost of the newly insured relative to those who were insured prior to the reform. We find that counties with larger increases in insurance coverage over the reform period face the smallest increas...