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Insights / Research BriefAug 29, 2023

Monitoring for Waste: Evidence from Medicare Audits

Maggie Shi
Every dollar Medicare spent on monitoring generates $24–29 in government savings, mainly from the deterrence of medically unnecessary future care. Monitoring increases upfront investments in technology to assess the necessity of care.
Topics:  Health care
Insights / Research BriefJul 14, 2023

Who Values Human Capitalists’ Human Capital? The Earnings and Labor Supply of U.S. Physicians

Joshua D. Gottlieb, Maria Polyakova, Hugh Shiplett, Kevin Rinz, Victoria Udalova
Physicians’ annual earnings average $350,000 and comprise 8.6% of national healthcare spending. Government policy has a major impact on earnings: 25% of incremental Medicare spending on physician care goes to physicians personally, and physicians earn 6% of public money spent on insurance expansions.
Topics:  Health care
Insights / Podcast episodeApr 04, 2023

Sometimes Bigger IS Better: The Case for Bringing Rural Healthcare to Urban Hospitals

Tess Vigeland, Jonathan Dingel, Joshua Gottlieb
When rural patients need care that local medical facilities can’t provide, what’s the best way...
Insights / Research BriefDec 10, 2019

Does One Medicare Fit All? The Economics of Uniform Health Insurance Benefits

When politicians and policymakers worry about the cost of health care, the affordability of prescription medications is often front and center. Given the present focus on prescription drug costs, it may surprise some readers to learn that medications were not included in the original Medicare program enacted in 1965; there were not enough expensive drug treatments to concern policymakers. Indeed, it was nearly 40 years until drug benefits were finally included in Medicare coverage in 2006.
Topics:  Health care
Insights / Research HighlightMay 01, 2018

Promoting Wellness or Waste? Evidence from Antidepressant Advertising

Brad Shapiro
If you have watched television at all in recent years you have probably noticed advertising for antidepressant medication. The commercials typically begin by describing symptoms that viewers may experience and suggesting that they might be suffering from depression, without even knowing it. At the end, interested viewers are told to ask their doctors about a certain drug that could provide help.
Topics:  Health care
Insights / Research BriefApr 01, 2018

Getting Subsidies Right

Pietro Tebaldi
Based on BFI Working Paper No. 2017-05, “Estimating Equilibrium in Health Insurance Exchanges: Price Competition and Subsidy Design under the ACA,” by Pietro Tebaldi, assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago
Topics:  Health care
Insights / Video

Spotlight on “The Health Sector and the Economy 2017 Conference” Working Papers

Guy David, Mark Egan
The Health Sector and the Economy conference brought faculty, research professionals, and students together to explore...