Writing

Explainers

Health policy is largely made in the details, including how cost sharing is structured, which state rule applies, and how a subsidy is calculated. These are attempts to explain a few of those details clearly, drawing on peer-reviewed research.
Insurance Design

How subsidy design amplifies ACA tobacco surcharges

Insurers may charge tobacco users up to 50 percent more, and most charge considerably less than that. Tobacco users nevertheless face worse affordability, because marketplace subsidies are calculated before the surcharge is applied.

 Medicare

What the Medicare Part D benefit structure does to medication use

Part D changes a beneficiary's out-of-pocket price discontinuously through the year and resets each January. Beneficiaries anticipate those changes, though less completely than standard theory would predict.

 Medicare

State regulation of Medigap and access to supplemental coverage

Traditional Medicare places no annual limit on out-of-pocket costs. Access to a Medigap policy once the initial enrollment window has closed is governed almost entirely by state law.

 Payment Policy

Readmission penalties and racial disparities in readmissions

Medicare's penalties fall hardest on safety-net hospitals, raising concerns that racial disparities would widen. Disparities were already narrowing at those hospitals beforehand, and did not reverse.

Selected commentary

  1. “The High Cost of ‘Free’ Covid Testing.” The Wall Street Journal, February 2022.
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