Health Policy | Econofact

Clearing the Air on the Costs of Pollution

By Nicholas J. Sanders·October 18, 2019
Cornell University

The Issue:

The United States has made a lot of headway in improving air quality since the initial Clean Air Act, the first drastic regulation of air pollution in the United States. While such a program has visible costs — such as decreased manufacturing employment, sectoral reallocation, and increased production

Health Insurance Without the Individual Mandate: Can a Three-legged Stool Stand on Two Legs?

By Daniel Sacks and Kosali Simon·November 7, 2018
Indiana University

The Issue:

The designers of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — also known as Obamacare — argued that its many pieces fit together tightly, and the success of the whole law depends upon the maintenance of the individual parts. One key element, the individual mandate — a requirement that Americans obtain insurance ...
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How Do Occupational Licensing Rules Affect the Health Care Sector?

By Kathleen Adams, Sara Markowitz and Ryan Nunn·October 9, 2018
Emory University and The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution

The Issue:

Health care professionals work within the boundaries of state licensing rules which vary from one state to another, often restrict what nurses and other non-physician health care workers can do, and determine to what extent they must be supervised by physicians. These rules have to strike a balance between ...
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How Large a Burden are Administrative Costs in Health Care?

By Joshua D. Gottlieb and Mark Shepard·September 6, 2018
University of British Columbia and Harvard University

The Issue:

Health care spending is much higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. One aspect that sets the United States apart is a much higher share of expenses that are not directly related to providing goods or services to people in need of care. The U.S. health care system spends hundreds ...
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Opioids and Early Death in America

By Ellen Meara, Nancy Morden and Jonathan Skinner·September 23, 2017
Dartmouth College

The Issue:

Two disturbing trends in the United States have surfaced during the past several decades. First, deaths involving prescription or illicit opioids have taken more than 300,000 lives since the late 1990s. Second, death rates among non-Hispanic white, middle-aged Americans have increased dramatically during ...
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