Findings on Health Insurance Discussed by Investigators at Auburn University (Health insurance mandates in a model with consumer bankruptcy)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Research findings on Health Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting from Auburn, Alabama, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "We study insurance take-up choices by consumers who face medical expense risk and who know they can default on medical bills by filing for bankruptcy. For a given bankruptcy system, we explore the total and distributional welfare effects of health insurance mandates compared with the pre-mandate market equilibrium."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Auburn University, "We consider different combinations of premium subsidies and out-of-insurance penalties, confining attention to budget-neutral policies. We show that when insurance mandates are enforced only through penalties, the efficient take-up level may be incomplete. However, if mandates are also supported with premium subsidies, full insurance coverage is efficient and can also be Pareto improving. Such policies are consistent with the incentive structure for insurance take-up set in the ACA. Pareto improvement is possible because the legal requirement that medical providers dispense acute care on credit, together with the bankruptcy option, yields effective subsidies for medical care utilized by the uninsured."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Those subsidy funds, however, can serve the initially uninsured better when they are given as ex ante subsidies on insurance premiums."

For more information on this research see: Health insurance mandates in a model with consumer bankruptcy. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 2016;50(2):233-250. Journal of Regulatory Economics can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Journal of Regulatory Economics - www.springerlink.com/content/0922-680x/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting G. Sorek, Auburn University, Dept. of Econ, Auburn, AL 36849, United States (see also Health Insurance).

Keywords for this news article include: Auburn, Alabama, United States, North and Central America, Health Insurance, Auburn University.

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