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Insurance Law

Faculty Scholarship

Series

2012

Affordable Care Act

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Affordable Care Act And Health Promotion: The Role Of Insurance In Defining Responsibility For Health Risks And Costs, Wendy K. Mariner Apr 2012

The Affordable Care Act And Health Promotion: The Role Of Insurance In Defining Responsibility For Health Risks And Costs, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines whether insurance is an appropriate mechanism for improving individual health or reducing the cost of health care for payers. The Affordable Care Act contains implicit standards for allocating responsibility for health, especially in provisions encouraging health promotion and wellness programs. A summary of the accumulating evidence of the effects of such programs suggests that wellness programs have been somewhat more effective in making people feel better than in reducing costs. Health promotion should be encouraged, because health is valuable for its own sake. Insurance is not well suited to improve health or manage behavioral risks to health; …


Some Thoughts On Health Care Exchanges: Choice, Defaults, And The Unconnected, Brendan S. Maher Apr 2012

Some Thoughts On Health Care Exchanges: Choice, Defaults, And The Unconnected, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

One feature of the ACA that appealed to observers across the political spectrum was the creation of health insurance “exchanges.” Among other things, exchanges are intended to aid consumers in making simple and transparent choices regarding the purchase of health insurance. This Article considers how exchanges might benefit from the use of “default” options — both online and off. Given the significant number of Americans that have limited or no Internet access, offline defaults may be an attractive way to promote coverage of the “unconnected.”