Research / BFI Working PaperJan 25, 2018

Do Larger Health Insurance Subsidies Benefit Patients or Producers? Evidence from Medicare Advantage

A central question in the debate over privatized Medicare is whether increased government payments to private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans generate lower premiums for consumers or higher profits for producers. Using difference-in-differences variation brought about by a sharp legislative change, we find that MA insurers pass through 45% of increased payments in lower premiums and an additional 9% in more generous benefits. We show that advantageous selection into MA cannot explain this incomplete pass-through. Instead, our evidence suggests that market power is important, with premium pass-through rates of 13% in the least competitive markets and 74% in the most competitive.

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BFI Working Paper Jan 25, 2018

Provider Incentives and Healthcare Costs: Evidence from Long-Term Care Hospitals

Amy Finkelstein, Liran Einav, Neale Mahoney
Topics:  Health care, Financial Markets, Economic Mobility & Poverty
BFI Working Paper Feb 25, 2018

Bad Credit, No Problem? Credit and Labor Market Consequences of Bad Credit Reports

Neale Mahoney, Will Dobbie, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Jae Song
Topics:  Health care, Financial Markets, Economic Mobility & Poverty
BFI Working Paper Jan 25, 2018

What Does (Formal) Health Insurance Do, and For Whom?

Neale Mahoney, Matthew J. Notowidigdo, Amy Finkelstein
Topics:  Health care, Financial Markets, Economic Mobility & Poverty