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Mandates and the Affordability of Health Care

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  • Sherry A. Glied

Abstract

This paper examines the economic rationale of affordability exemptions in the context of a health insurance mandate. On its face, an affordability exemption makes little sense-- it exempts people from purchasing a good that policymakers believe benefits them. I provide an economic definition of affordability and discuss how it is implemented in the contexts of food, housing, and health care. Affordability standards are frequently used in food and housing policy making, but both empirically and theoretically health care operates quite differently than do these other merit goods. These differences help explain why the use of affordability in health policymaking is so different from its use in these other contexts. I conclude with a discussion of the relationship between mandates and exemptions in other health care systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Sherry A. Glied, 2008. "Mandates and the Affordability of Health Care," NBER Working Papers 14545, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14545
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Helen Levy & Thomas DeLeire, 2003. "What Do People Buy When They Don't Buy Health Insurance And What Does that Say about Why They are Uninsured?," NBER Working Papers 9826, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    7. Bradley, Ralph, 2008. "Comment--Defining health insurance affordability: Unobserved heterogeneity matters," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 1129-1140, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gawel, Erik & Bretschneider, Wolfgang, 2010. "Investigating affordability problems of utility services - a theoretical study on the ratio measure," IAMO Forum 2010: Institutions in Transition – Challenges for New Modes of Governance 52714, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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