Publications and Research
Health Care Reform Policy Briefs
October 2009
The Costs and Benefits of a Public Option in Health Care Reform: An Economic Analysis
By Ethan Kaplan and Melissa A. Rodgers. October 30, 2009
Economist Ethan Kaplan and Berkeley CHEFS Associate Director Melissa Rodgers argue that including a public option in health care reform is likely to generate greater benefits and cost savings to the American people than has been projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and other independent analysts.
August 2009
Reforming the Private Insurance Market: Lessons from California for National Health Reform
By Janet M. Coffman, MA, MPP, PhD. August 26, 2009
Janet Coffman, of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, reviews California’s experience regulating health insurance and points to five major lessons for national health reform that are critical to ensure Americans have access to comprehensive, affordable coverage.
July 2009
Beyond the Public Plan: A Pathway to Contain Costs and Transform the Delivery System
By Harold S. "Hal" Luft, PhD. July 29, 2009
Internationally renowned health economist Hal Luft proposes a publicly chartered major risk pool that uses voluntary mechanisms to lower the costs of coverage expansions, and begins transforming the delivery system by encouraging providers to accept bundled payments.
June 2009
Prescription for Success: Lessons from California for National Health Reform
By Melissa A. Rodgers and Jacob S. Hacker. June 22, 2009
Melissa Rodgers and Jacob Hacker analyze California's recent experience with comprehensive health reform and offer ten lessons from California that are essential to the success of national health reform.
How to Structure a "Play-or-Pay" Requirement on Employers: Lessons from California for National Health Reform
By Ken Jacobs and Jacob S. Hacker. June 16, 2009
In a new health reform policy brief by Berkeley CHEFS and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, Ken Jacobs and Jacob S. Hacker examine the policy design, economic effects, and political ramifications of employer requirements.
April 2009
Healthy Competition: How to Structure Public Health Insurance Plan Choice to Ensure Risk-Sharing, Cost Control, and Quality Improvement
By Jacob S. Hacker. April 8, 2009
Recently, the debate over health care reform has increasingly focused on what a “public plan choice” would mean for Americans. In this brief Jacob Hacker, a nationally recognized expert on the public plan, describes how the nation can structure and implement a public health insurance option as part of overall health care reform. The brief was released in collaboration with the Institute for America’s Future.
December 2008
The Case for Public Plan Choice in National Health Reform
By Jacob S. Hacker. December 17, 2008
Berkeley CHEFS founding faculty co-director Jacob Hacker makes a vital case for a public plan in any health care reform proposal by Congress or president-elect Barack Obama. The brief says that a Medicare-like public insurance option, offered alongside private health plans, is crucial to controlling health care costs and improving quality. This brief is a joint project of the Center on Health, Economic & Family Security at the UC Berkeley School of Lawand the non-profit Institute for America’s Future.
Read the Q&A about the Case for Public Plan Choice.