We examine whether the pricing of brand drugs, relative to estimates of their clinical value, is related to the way insurers cover those products in Medicare Part D. The net prices of drugs in our sample vary significantly relative to value-based prices from the Institute for Clinical and...

We use credit reports, survey data, and two natural experiments that increase health insurance coverage—Medicare eligibility and the Affordable Care Act's Under 26 provision—to study the financial protection provided by health insurance.

It is often assumed that financial incentives of healthcare providers affect the care they deliver, but this issue is surprisingly difficult to study. The recent enactment of state laws that limit how much hospitals can charge uninsured patients provide a unique opportunity. Using an event study...

The likely impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government revenues is increasingly well understood.

Hospital payment regulation has historically been introduced to meet multiple policy objectives. The primary objective of "all-payer" rate setting regimes was to control costs through consistent, centrally regulated payments. These regimes were often linked, however, to an ancillary goal of...

We analyze potential reforms to Medicaid financing through the lens of fiscal federalism. Because substantial dollars are at stake, both the economic and political sides of intergovernmental transfers have high relevance in this setting. We show that changes in Medicaid financing formulas can...

We analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government finances, with an emphasis on health spending needs and the role of the Medicaid program. We arrive at three conclusions. First, we find that nationwide, and over the entirety of the federal budget window, the enhanced...