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Full-Text Articles in Economics

Reducing The Geographic Variance In Medical Expenditures: The Benefits Of A Primary-Care-Oriented Health System, Noah Bricker Sep 2014

Reducing The Geographic Variance In Medical Expenditures: The Benefits Of A Primary-Care-Oriented Health System, Noah Bricker

Undergraduate Economic Review

The Affordable Care Act states that a primary goal of health care reform should be to lower costs and promote fiscal responsibility. With these two goals in mind, the bill proposes a more primary-care-oriented health system by enacting a 5-year temporary Medicare fee increase for primary care physicians as a means to increase the number of physicians and incentivize more primary care services. Using county and regional level Medicare data, this paper finds that an increase in the number of primary care physicians per capita would reduce per beneficiary Medicare spending and as a consequence, lower national health expenditures substantially.


Can Human Capital Explain The Difference In Private Health Insurance Coverage Rates Between Natives And Immigrants?, Benjamin S. White Apr 2014

Can Human Capital Explain The Difference In Private Health Insurance Coverage Rates Between Natives And Immigrants?, Benjamin S. White

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates how human capital variables, especially educational attainment and health disability, affect an immigrant’s probability to have private health insurance. Specifically, is there a convergence to natives’ coverage rates for immigrants as human capital is controlled for? Two probit regressions are used to answer this question, one to analyze the employer provided health insurance market and another to analyze privately purchased health insurance market. The principle finding is that human capital variables are important in determining access to private health insurance. However, a health insurance coverage differential does remain between immigrants and natives.