Premium
BANKRUPTCY, MEDICAL INSURANCE, AND A LAW WITH UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Author(s) -
Koch Thomas G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.2985
Subject(s) - bankruptcy , actuarial science , business , medical insurance , casualty insurance , population , insurance policy , unintended consequences , general insurance , economics , law , finance , medicine , political science , environmental health
ABSTRACT Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) in 1986, guaranteeing a standard of medical care to anyone who entered an emergency room. This guarantee made default a more reliable substitute for medical insurance. I construct a tractable structural model of the medical insurance market and find that repealing EMTALA would increase the fraction of the population with insurance while decreasing its price. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.