Consider a market with adverse selection and no loading fact…
Consider a market with adverse selection and no loading factors under the Einav-Finkelstein model. Suppose there are 3 types of consumers: very ill, moderately healthy, and very healthy. Say there are a 100 people of each type. At the market equilibrium. only the very-ill purchase insurance. This results in premiums being very high — all insurance purchasers have high healthcare expenses, so insurers have to raise premiums to cover costs. The high premiums drive out the moderately healthy and very healthy from the market, who have little demand for insurance as they are unlikely to fall ill. Your local policymaker suggests an insurance mandate – requiring everyone by law to purchase insurance. This way, the moderately healthy and very healthy will purchase insurance, which will bring down insurers’ average costs from enrollees, lowering premiums. Can you explain the trade-offs and distributional effects from such a policy?
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