Wendy Netter Epstein on Private Alternatives to the Individual Mandate

Ipse Dixit

In this episode, Wendy Netter Epstein, Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law and Faculty Director of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute, discusses her article "Private Law Alternatives to the Individual Mandate," which will be published in the Minnesota Law Review. Epstein begins by briefly describing what the Affordable Care Act is and how it works, and the role the "individual mandate" played in the ACA. She then explains how the effective elimination of the individual mandate will affect the functioning of the ACA health care markets, by changing the incentives for marginal healthcare consumers. She observes that existing proposals to compensate for the loss of the individual mandate are unlikely to be effective and would have undesirable consequences. And she proposes several alternative approaches based on behavioral economics principles that could be more effective, including variable rate plans, lock-in contracts, return of premium policies, and appeals to altruism. Epstein is on Twitter at @ProfWEpstein.

This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Associate Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye.

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