Research

The Welfare Effects of Accountable Care Organizations

Job Market Paper. (Draft coming soon!)

Regulation of Contract Generosity in Selection Markets: The Case of Medicare Advantage

with Yiyi Zhou. (Draft coming soon!)

Regulations on contract generosity are commonly used by policymakers to prevent private firms from engaging in cream-skimming in selection markets where serving different consumers involves different costs. These regulations directly limit firms’ ability to choose their level of generosity, affecting both consumer demand and costs incurred. As a result, the equilibrium choices of product generosity and price by the firms’ are impacted. In the case of Medicare Advantage, our analysis indicates that consumers have diverse healthcare needs and considerable moral hazard. The recent regulation on maximum out-of-pocket expenses, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, improves total consumer welfare by 27%, especially benefiting those with high healthcare needs. This regulation compresses firms` markups but boosts their overall surplus due to a notable increase in enrollment. Government spending rises because the increased subsidy outweighs savings from reduced Traditional Medicare expenditures.

Long Term Care in the United States and Around the World: Caring for those with Severe Cognitive Impairment

with Gopi Shah Goda, Brian McGarry and Kathleen McGarry. (Draft available upon request)