I always struggle with equating Medicaid with insurance. At least in cancer, Medicaid does provide the safety net for catastrophic costs, but it does not cover important services like lymphedema therapy (more than 3 visits a year) and breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. What would really be interesting is if people were randomized to Medicaid versus a tricked out commercial plan.
True, that's very helpful context. Maybe we shouldn't think of this as illuminating insurance markets generally, but instead showing the value of a safety net. The first most "famous" insurance experiment was the RAND health insurance experiment in the 1970s, where they (somewhat) randomized people among high and low out-of-pocket cost plans. The big conclusion from RAND was "health care consumption does respond to prices, not just need." Oregon certainty supports that too. Maybe Oregon has added "insurance smooths out financial uncertainty." As for health, RAND didn't find much impact either. Now we need an experiment that could tell us something about what mechanisms of insurance could generate health!
I always struggle with equating Medicaid with insurance. At least in cancer, Medicaid does provide the safety net for catastrophic costs, but it does not cover important services like lymphedema therapy (more than 3 visits a year) and breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. What would really be interesting is if people were randomized to Medicaid versus a tricked out commercial plan.
True, that's very helpful context. Maybe we shouldn't think of this as illuminating insurance markets generally, but instead showing the value of a safety net. The first most "famous" insurance experiment was the RAND health insurance experiment in the 1970s, where they (somewhat) randomized people among high and low out-of-pocket cost plans. The big conclusion from RAND was "health care consumption does respond to prices, not just need." Oregon certainty supports that too. Maybe Oregon has added "insurance smooths out financial uncertainty." As for health, RAND didn't find much impact either. Now we need an experiment that could tell us something about what mechanisms of insurance could generate health!