Drug Pricing Reform in the U.S.: If Europeans Paid More, Would Americans Pay Less?
[cross posted from the Health Cents blog on philly.com]
One of the few issues in health policy on which there is bipartisan agreement is that it would be nice to lower the prices for patented brand name drugs. It would be even nicer if this could be done without reducing the flow of profits to drug companies that incentivize them to invest in research on new and better products.
Is Pharma Getting Greedier?
[cross-posted from the Health Cents blog on philly.com]
Why Medicaid Work Requirements Could Help Persuade More States to Expand Coverage
[cross-posted from the Health Cents blog on philly.com]
Effects of the ACA on Health Care Cost Containment
This brief reviews the evidence on how key ACA provisions have affected the growth of health care costs. Coverage expansions produced a predictable jump in health care spending, amidst a slowdown that began a decade ago. Although we have not returned to the double-digit increases of the past, the authors find little evidence that ACA cost containment provisions produced changes necessary to “bend the cost curve.” Cost control will likely play a prominent role in the next round of health reform and will be critical to sustaining coverage gains in the long term.
How to Save the Individual Insurance Market Post-ACA
[cross-posted from the Health Cents blog on philly.com]
Just 6% of people under age 65 buy health insurance on the individual market (rather than getting it through their jobs), but the political debate about how to arrange insurance for them is causing great turmoil and has revived discussion of the individual mandate.
Exchanges Can Survive End of Individual Mandate
One of the many scary trial balloons being floated by the Administration as part of its first 100 days is to abolish enforcement of the individual mandate. That mandate imposes a penalty of $695 per person, or 2.5% of income per family, for people who fail to obtain qualified health insurance. It isn’t much of a penalty because about half of the uninsured can get exemptions and the penalties are small relative to premiums.
How Medicare Wants to Pay for End-Of-Life Counseling
[cross-posted with US News]
Schooling the Supreme Court on Basic Economics
Cross-posted from the Philadelphia Inquirer "Field Clinic" Blog
Hospitals' Smoker Non-Hiring Debate
The recent debate about the ethics of a health system's decision to refuse to hire new workers who smoke was understandably couched in the framework of ethics. But hiring a worker -- buying labor -- is an economic transaction that occurs in a market, and so it may be useful to discuss the economic framework as well.