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Will More Health Insurance Improve Health Outcomes?

Featuring John Mirowsky, Ohio State University; Tom Miller, Cato Institute; and Theodore Pincus, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

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Several recent studies contend that expanding health insurance coverage to the uninsured and "underinsured" would improve their health in a number of ways. More skeptical observers point to diminishing returns from greater public investment in access to health insurance, particularly through expansion of Medicaid. John Mirowsky finds that providing more insurance coverage will have, at best, no significant impact on individual health outcomes, once one accounts for more powerful socioeconomic factors. Theodore Pincus observes that investing in education, improving social conditions, and increasing patients’ sense of control over their illnesses through self-management are better ways to improve the health of persons of low socioeconomic status. Tom Miller will examine the policy implications of research challenging the connection between coverage and care.