The Joe Pesci Option
There are many unknowns in the future of health care funding and costs given the current crisis faced by our country. With unemployment rising at an unprecedented rate and...
Financial Risk Preparation: The COVID-19 Pandemic and ‘Unknown Unknowns’
A few days before ‘shelter in place’ became a common part of our lexicon, I returned home from the office one afternoon and told my wife I had a nice chat with the New York Times...
The Platinum Public Option
The Platinum Public Option…it’s more than just a catchy slogan. It’s a solution to coordinate the political semantics and financial dynamics of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without...
Pandemic Lessons: Healthcare Versus Health Insurance
There’s been debate in political and healthcare circles about the President’s decision to not open a Special Enrollment Period for ACA markets in the midst of the 2020 global coronavirus...
A Hard Pill to Swallow: Appreciating the Mathematical Dynamics of the Affordable Care Act
The pivotal moment[2] in the 1999 science fiction action film The Matrix involves the central character having to choose between irrevocable binary options. He can elect to swallow...
Trust the Prophets, Not the Spin Doctors
In January 2019, Clemson defeated Alabama 44-16 in the College Football Playoff championship game. As a Clemson football fan, I was thrilled with the result. I was also surprised...
The Tip of the ACA Iceberg
Casual observers of a recent Congressional hearing that included Seema Verma as its only witness might have mistaken the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
Another ACA Paradox: Lowering the Average Age Increases Consumer Premiums
There is a little secret (not anymore) among health actuaries that pricing age slopes are self-fulfilling. If the true cost of the oldest eligible age group in a population is five times the youngest...
Separating Politics from Policy
Each year around this time, we can gain tremendous insight from reading articles preceding the annual open enrollment period (11/1-12/15 in most states) in marketplaces of the...
A Portrait of Maternity Care
A tranquil portrait of a desolate, sandy beach hung in the hallway. I had been staring at the white foam of the crashing waves and undisturbed golden sand for ten minutes in my own