Administering Health Insurance Mandates

Publication Date:

Publisher:

Author(s): C.E. Steuerle; P.N. Van de Water

Research Area: Health

Type: White Paper

Abstract:

Mandates form an integral part of many state and national proposals to expand health insurance coverage. Many current proposals contain mandates that would require individuals to buy health insurance, while others would impose requirements on employers to provide or pay for coverage.



Often, however, too little attention is paid to how and whether mandates can be administered. This paper identifies ways to structure health insurance mandates, if adopted at the federal level, so that they are more likely to be administered fairly and effectively. In doing so, it draws on information about the administrative arrangements used in existing health insurance mandates in Hawaii, Massachusetts, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as the administration of mandates proposed by several lawmakers and foundations.