05.02.2018 / Press Release

Families USA Partners with Leading Conservative Scholars on Innovative Proposals to Fix Health Insurance Markets

Washington, D.C. — Today, Health Affairs, America’s leading health policy journal, released on Health Affairs Blog the first of a two-part series co-authored by Families USA Senior Fellow Stan Dorn; James C. Capretta, senior fellow and the Milton Friedman chair at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); and Lanhee J. Chen, David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution (Hoover). The series outlines how federal lawmakers could encourage automatic enrollment into health coverage.

Part I, explores past uses of auto-enrollment with health coverage and other benefits. Part II, scheduled to be released tomorrow, May 3, will explain how federal lawmakers can give states new flexibility to implement auto-enrollment and build a supportive national structure that facilitates state innovation.

“Breaking new ground, our analysis shows how policymakers could increase the number of people with health coverage, replace the disappearing federal enforcement of the individual mandate, and address the individual market’s core dysfunctions,” said Stan Dorn, the piece’s lead author.

Added Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, “This collaboration between thought leaders at Families USA, AEI, and Hoover illustrates how analysts with diverse perspectives can find common ground in devising creative and practical health policy solutions. We are confident that members of Congress, in both parties, will seize this opportunity to move beyond partisan, gridlocked battle lines and enact health care laws that make a concrete, positive difference in the lives of their constituents.”

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