The ACA Underwriting Cycle
I recently heard about a song collaboration between Ozzy Osbourne and Post Malone. I remember this only because I also heard a random but insightful observation regarding the collaboration...
Metalball: Gold < Silver ‘Gets on Base’
I haven’t been to many movies recently, but two that I have seen are Invincible and Moneyball. Observant readers will recognize each as nonfictional portrayals of sports figures with a unique story. A smaller...
Value Considerations for States: ACA Decisions Through an ROI Lens
You have seen the maps. They are pretty and color-coded. They show which states have expanded Medicaid, which operate their own exchange in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) markets, and which have...
The Game You Thought You Knew: Inside ACA Baseball
The game of baseball underwent a 21st-century change when advanced analytical computations changed the way players were valued. Important measures in the individual health insurance market went...
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...
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...