scholarly journals The COVID-19 Pandemic and Health Insurance Regulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Frederick ◽  
J. Bradley Karl
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
State Level ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
Insurance Regulation ◽  
Health Insurance Markets ◽  
Catastrophic Risks ◽  
Insight Into

With projections of costs in the billions for COVID-19 treatments alone, and heightened scrutiny on COVID-19-related health insurance coverage, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) convened in March 2020 to discuss how the industry could best deal with a pandemic. While the ramifications of the COVID-19 event are in their infant stages, it is important to consider the implications such catastrophic risks have on an insurance market. We evaluate state-level changes presented by the NAIC in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and use prior research to offer insight into health insurance in a post-COVID-19 world. This manuscript aims to provide a summary of the NAIC’s current standing during the pandemic, while presenting insight into policy implications regarding regulation in health insurance markets during catastrophic events.

scholarly journals After Midnight: A Regression Discontinuity Design in Length of Postpartum Hospital Stays

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Almond ◽  
Joseph J Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Length Of Hospital Stay ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Insurance Mandates ◽  
Health Insurance Markets ◽  
Hospital Stays ◽  
Exogenous Source

Estimates of moral hazard in health insurance markets can be confounded by adverse selection. This paper considers a plausibly exogenous source of variation in insurance coverage for childbirth in California. We find that additional health insurance coverage induces substantial extensions in length of hospital stay for mother and newborn. However, remaining in the hospital longer has no effect on readmissions or mortality, and the estimates are precise. Our results suggest that for uncomplicated births, minimum insurance mandates incur substantial costs without detectable health benefits. (JEL D82, G22, I12, I18, J13)

scholarly journals The Questionable Value of Having a Choice of Levels of Health Insurance Coverage

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Marzilli Ericson ◽  
Justin Sydnor
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Adverse Selection ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Health Insurance Markets ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Multiple Levels

In most health insurance markets in the United States, consumers have substantial choice about their health insurance plan. However additional choice is not an unmixed blessing as it creates challenges related to both consumer confusion and adverse selection. There is mounting evidence that many people have difficulty understanding the value of insurance coverage, like evaluating the relative benefits of lower premiums versus lower deductibles. Also, in most US health insurance markets, people cannot be charged different prices for insurance based on their individual level of health risk. This creates the potential for well-known problems of adverse selection because people will often base the level of health insurance coverage they choose partly on their health status. In this essay, we examine how the forces of consumer confusion and adverse selection interact with each other and with market institutions to affect how valuable it is to have multiple levels of health insurance coverage available in the market.

Union Threat Effects and the Decline in Employer-Provided Health Insurance

ILR Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-445
Author(s):  
Craig A. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
State Level ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Private Sector Union ◽  
Threat Effect

Employer-provided health insurance decreased by an average of almost 0.6 percentage points per year for adults aged 18 to 64 who were working full-time in the private sector between 1983 and 2007. Most of this decline was among non-union workers. This study reports estimates that suggest the decrease was caused by a decline employers faced in the threat of being unionized, as measured by the drop in state-level private-sector union density over the 25 years and across the 50 states. The author hypothesizes the decline in union density caused some non-union employers to decide not to offer health insurance. The study shows the importance of accounting for measurement error in union density when estimating the declining threat effect of unionization on non-union employer-provided health insurance coverage.

scholarly journals Association of Maternal Citizenship and State-Level Immigrant Policies With Health Insurance Coverage Among US-Born Latino Youths

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. e2021876
Author(s):  
Cinthya K. Alberto ◽  
Jessie Kemmick Pintor ◽  
Maria-Elena Young ◽  
Loni Philip Tabb ◽  
Ana Martínez-Donate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
State Level ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Immigrant Policies

The Relationships of Competition and Demographics to the Pricing of Health Insurance Premiums in Affordable Care Act–Era Health Insurance Markets

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve E. O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Insurance Premiums ◽  
Health Insurance Markets ◽  
Health Insurance Premiums

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands health insurance coverage to millions of Americans. Despite the act having been signed into law more than five years ago, health care affordability in the ACA era remains a topic of empirical inquiry, relevant to academicians and public policy makers. A primary concern, with implications for any future legislation, is whether all consumer groups have equitable access to health insurance options through ACA-mandated health insurance markets (HIMs). Utilizing pricing information and demographic data for states that adopted the Healthcare.gov platform, this study examines relationships between health insurance premiums, competition, and population characteristics. Results indicate that competition within HIMs is multifaceted. Although markets with a large number of insurance plans are associated with lower premiums, this effect is moderated by the concentration of insurers in the market and number of rating areas. Furthermore, population characteristics are related to premiums, where premiums vary by HIM demographics. Findings also suggest that access is less equitable in areas that have not adopted Medicaid expansion plans and areas that serve a large percentage of uninsured consumers.

Ten Years Later: Reflections on Critics' Worst-Case Scenarios for the Affordable Care Act

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-483
Author(s):  
Stacey McMorrow ◽  
Linda J. Blumberg ◽  
John Holahan
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health Insurance Markets ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

Abstract The primary goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were to increase the availability and affordability of health insurance coverage and thereby improve access to needed health care services. Numerous studies have overwhelmingly confirmed that the law has reduced uninsurance and improved affordability of coverage and care for millions of Americans. Not everyone believed that the ACA would lead to positive outcomes, however. Critics raised numerous concerns in the years leading up to the law's passage and full implementation, including about its consequences for national health spending, labor supply, employer health insurance markets, provider capacity, and overall population health. This article considers five frequently heard worst-case scenarios related to the ACA and provides research evidence that these fears did not come to pass.

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