News
National Journal | House Panel Targets Medicaid
The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Thursday approved legislation loosening federal rules for Medicaid, setting up a bill that could force hundreds of thousands of people out of the federal health program.
Politico | Mitt Romney defends Mass. health law
Mitt Romney used slide after slide in a power point presentation Thursday to make the case that the health care reform law he signed in 2006 isn't much like the one President Barack Obama signed last year.
Econ Comments
WSJ | Romney's Daredevil Act
On health care, Mitt tries to bridge the unbridgeable.
AEI | Taking the Individual Mandate Off Life Support
The real evidence of the connection between the mandate and the problems it purportedly could solve is shaky at best. Nevertheless, the Obama administration and its congressional allies hoped that an individual mandate could accomplish two political goals: First, it might obscure the full cost of expanded coverage by conscripting private resources to pay for most of it without explicit tax increases; second, it would ensure enough new captive customers for private insurers to provide them with sustainable revenue and keep their risk pools from falling apart, despite expanded regulatory requirements and benefits mandates.
Reports
NBER | Selection on Moral Hazard in Health Insurance
In this paper we explore the possibility that individuals may select insurance coverage in part based on their anticipated behavioral response to the insurance contract. Such "selection on moral hazard" can have important implications for attempts to combat either selection or moral hazard.
CBO | Additional Information About CBO's Baseline Projections of Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance Provided Through Exchanges
This discussion addresses subsidies for insurance premiums only and does not cover subsidies for cost sharing. Under current law, certain individuals with lower income will also be entitled to subsidies to reduce the amount they will be required to pay for cost sharing for medical services. Those subsidies for cost sharing will increase over time roughly in line with the growth of costs for medical care and the growth in the number of people receiving those subsidies. This document does not address that provision because it is not directly related to how federal subsidies for premiums will grow over time.
