The cost of expanding health insurance coverage increases when people who would otherwise purchase insurance obtain public coverage. This paper investigates the effects of one of the first efforts to target insurance benefits to the most needy, the 1982 medicare as secondary payer (MSP) provisions. We find strong evidence of low compliance with the MSP both in terms of medical bill payments (pa...

The effect of unemployment benefits (UB) on the behavior of unemployed individuals has been extensively studied in the literature. In contrast, we still know little about how UB affect the behavior of employed workers. This paper aims at filling this gap, using job-to-job (JTJ) transitions as the main outcome of analysis. The theoretical framework developed in the paper indicates that UB should...

Hagadorn and co-authors (HKMM) invite the interpretation that most of the large increase in unemployment since 2007 can be blamed on the rising generosity of unemployment insurance benefits, leaving little to blame on the financial crisis. But the paper does not make that claim. And the claim is incorrect. The right way to explain the claims of the the paper is that a policy of extending UI ben...

MEXICO'S COMPREHENSIVE Social I n surance Act was signed by President Avila Camacho on December 31, 1942, and promulgated on January 19, 1943. Contributions became effective i n the Federal. District on January 1, 1944; i n March 1945 the law was extended to the municipal ity of Puebla, State of Puebla, and i n August 1945 to the municipal ity of Monterrey, State of Nueva Leon. This year has se...

Although disabled beneficiaries are not expected to work, do they continue to value work? This article compares data on a particular concept of work values, the importance to the self of having a job, for social security disability insurance beneficiaries, other disabled persons, and nondisabled persons interviewed in the Social Security Administration's 1978 Survey of Disability and Work. Desc...

In spite of some cutbacks in entitlements, many welfare states' spending has continuously increased over the past decades, leading to larger tax burdens and often higher marginal tax rates. Proposals for reform often focus on reduced social insurance benefits and more actuarial insurance premia. In this paper it is shown that such reforms may have a smaller potential for reducing the marginal t...

867 IAM HONORED to be considered a Pioneer in Palliative Care, and while I humbly accept the honor, I believe there are many others more worthy of such notable distinction. Unlike many of my peers, I did not forge my career in a community hospice or in a pure academic environment, but rather at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, a Deans Committee instit...

Medicinal mushrooms have been used for centuries as nutraceuticals to improve health and to treat numerous chronic and infectious diseases. One such mushroom is Ganoderma lucidum, commonly known as Lingzhi, a species revered as a medicinal mushroom for treating assorted diseases and prolonging life. The fungus is found in diverse locations, and this may have contributed to confusion regarding t...

OBJECTIVE To produce cost estimates of proposed health insurance benefit mandates for the California legislature. DATA SOURCES The 2001 California Health Interview Survey, 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Education Trust California Employer Health Benefits Survey, Milliman Health Cost Guidelines, and ad hoc surveys of large health plans were used. STUDY DESIGN We developed ...

U NDER the Social Security Act, once an individual establishes his entitlement to monthly oldage and survivors insurance benefits, he continues to receive his benefit each and every month, unless any one of several specified events occurs -principally, his substantial employment or self-employment, death, attainment of age 18, marriage, or remarriage. Under conditions stated in the Act, these e...