Showing archive for: “Health Care”
Why Premium Subsidies and the “Employer Mandate” Won’t Solve the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem
A couple of weeks ago, I argued that the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act will ultimately doom the Act to failure. The problem, I argued, is that the ACA’s guaranteed issue and community rating provisions create a perverse incentive for young, healthy people not to buy insurance until they ... Why Premium Subsidies and the “Employer Mandate” Won’t Solve the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem
Why Roberts’ Tax Reasoning Ultimately Damns the Affordable Care Act (But Not in a Good Way)
There’s great irony in Chief Justice Roberts’ reasoning in the recent Affordable Care Act ruling. In reading the ACA to impose a tax for failure to carry health insurance, thereby assuring the Act’s constitutionality, Justice Roberts also doomed the Act to failure. Let me explain. As the government repeatedly stressed, the individual mandate (now interpreted as a disjunctive order either to carry health insurance ... Why Roberts’ Tax Reasoning Ultimately Damns the Affordable Care Act (But Not in a Good Way)
David Post on Issue Versus Outcome Voting in NFIB v. Sebelius
David Post has a really interesting post this morning on the Volokh Conspiracy about the implications of issue versus outcome voting in NFIB v. Sebelius. Post and Steve Salop’s 1992 Georgetown Law Journal article sets forth an analysis of issue versus outcome voting. The blog post works through that analysis in the context of the ... David Post on Issue Versus Outcome Voting in NFIB v. Sebelius
WSJ Mistake on Holding of Health Care Ruling
Here’s a Letter to the Editor I sent to the Wall Street Journal today: Dear Editor: Today’s front page article, “GOP’s New Health-Law Front,” states that the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act ruling “circumvented the issue of whether the law was proper under Congress’s constitutional right to regulate commerce among the states.” That is incorrect. ... WSJ Mistake on Holding of Health Care Ruling
Earl Warren and John Roberts
President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren to the Supreme Court thinking that Warren was a conservative. Of course,Warren turned out to be a very liberal Justice. Eisenhower later said that appointing Warren was the biggest mistake of his presidency. Is John Roberts the Earl Warren of this century?
Broken Tax Promises
Remember this? How about this?: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandate… PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes. STEPHANOPOULOS: …during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax? OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here — here’s what’s happening. You ... Broken Tax Promises
Changes at the FTC Bureau of Economics
Recently, the FTC announced that Howard Shelanksi would be taking charge of the Bureau of Economics on July 1st. Now comes news that DOJ economist Ken Heyer (and UCLA Bruin!) — longtime Economics Director at the Division — will be moving over to the Commission as Deputy Director for Antitrust. Leemore Dafny (Northwestern) will also come ... Changes at the FTC Bureau of Economics
Richard Thaler on “Slippery Slopes”
In today’s New York Times, Richard Thaler argues that the Constitutional “slippery slope” argument in the Obamacare case (“Today health care, tomorrow broccoli”) is misguided. This is a strange argument in this particular case. We must remember that all of today’s commerce clause jurisprudence (which everyone agrees has greatly expanded the power of the Federal ... Richard Thaler on “Slippery Slopes”
Taxing Regulatory Failure
Last month, the IRS and the US Treasury Department issued proposed rules to implement a new tax on health insurance providers and self-insured groups. The tax is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and will be used to help fund the new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which will conduct research ... Taxing Regulatory Failure
A few tidbits about Herb Hovenkamp
Our friends at Chillin’ Competition have a short interview with Herb Hovenkamp up as part of their “Friday Slot” series. Here are a couple of tidbits to entice you to go read the whole thing: “Oscar” of the best antitrust law book? Non-antitrust book? Best Antitrust Book: Oliver E. Williamson, Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications (1975). ... A few tidbits about Herb Hovenkamp
How Well Do Incentive Programs in the Workplace Work?
WSJ has an interesting story about the growing number of employer efforts to import “game” like competitions in the workplace to provide incentives for employees to engage in various healthy activities. Some of these ideas sound in the behavioral economics literature, e.g. choice architecture or otherwise harnessing the power of non-standard preferences with a variety ... How Well Do Incentive Programs in the Workplace Work?
My Professor, My Judge, and the Doctrine of Judicial Review
Imagine if you picked up your morning paper to read that one of your astronomy professors had publicly questioned whether the earth, in fact, revolves around the sun. Or suppose that one of your economics professors was quoted as saying that consumers would purchase more gasoline if the price would simply rise. Or maybe your ... My Professor, My Judge, and the Doctrine of Judicial Review
