Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2023
  • Working Paper

Achieving Universal Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: Addressing Market Failures or Providing a Social Floor?

By: Katherine Baicker, Amitabh Chandra and Mark Shepard
  • Language:English
  • | Pages:25
ShareBar

Abstract

The United States spends substantially more on health care than most developed countries, yet leaves a greater share of the population uninsured. We suggest that incremental insurance expansions focused on addressing market failures will propagate inefficiencies and are not likely to facilitate active policy decisions that align with societal coverage goals. By instead defining a basic bundle of services that is publicly financed for all, while allowing individuals to purchase additional coverage, policymakers could both expand coverage and maintain incentives for innovation, fostering universal access to innovative care in an affordable system.

Keywords

Public Sector; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Innovation and Invention

Citation

Baicker, Katherine, Amitabh Chandra, and Mark Shepard. "Achieving Universal Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: Addressing Market Failures or Providing a Social Floor?" NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30854, January 2023.
  • Purchase

About The Author

Amitabh Chandra

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Expert Patients’ Use of Avoidable Health Care

    By: Amitabh Chandra, Pragya Kakani and Simone Matecna
    • November 2024
    • Quarterly Journal of Economics

    The Health Costs of Cost Sharing

    By: Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack and Ziad Obermeyer
    • October 2024
    • Health Affairs

    Medicare Part D Protected-Class Policy Is Associated with Lower Drug Rebates

    By: Pragya Kakani, Michael Anne Kyle, Amitabh Chandra and Luca Maini
More from the Authors
  • Expert Patients’ Use of Avoidable Health Care By: Amitabh Chandra, Pragya Kakani and Simone Matecna
  • The Health Costs of Cost Sharing By: Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack and Ziad Obermeyer
  • Medicare Part D Protected-Class Policy Is Associated with Lower Drug Rebates By: Pragya Kakani, Michael Anne Kyle, Amitabh Chandra and Luca Maini
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.