Essays in Health Economics

Abstract

In this dissertation I study three recent policies affecting health care markets in the United States. Chapter 1 studies the 2021 Hospital Price Transparency rule enacted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Using a difference-in-differences design comparing prices at Hospital Outpatient Departments (HOPDs), which were subject to the rule, to prices at Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), which were not but provide similar services to HOPDs, I find that prices increased by 6% on average and that this increase reached 10% by 2024. Chapter 2 studies a different price transparency policy for outpatient imaging services. I find no effect of this policy. This may be due to the less precise information revealed by the policy than by other price transparency policies. Chapter 3, with coauthors, studies changes in rates of insurance coverage following the resumption of Medicaid eligibility redeterminations, which could terminate Medicaid coverage. We find that self-reported coverage with Medicaid declined, but find no statistically significant change in self-reported rates of any insurance coverage.