Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Health Care Magnet?

Last January, I published a piece in WI Interest, the journal of the Wisconsin Public Policy Research Institute, arguing that the drafters of Healthy Wisconsin — or any similar program purporting to enact a universal entitlement to health care in a single state — could not constitutionally impose a residency requirement, creating the risk of health care migration and the associated problems of adverse selection. I did not seek to explore whether such migration would occur or who would migrate. I speculated, in fact, that the migrants would not be poor people, but those who are older or high risk.

WPRI has now published a study evaluating the probability of such migration. I have not yet carefully examined it, but I continue to believe that such migration (and the Supreme Court precedent that protects it) is a serious obstacle to state efforts to enact some form of universal health care and, for that matter, a variety of other initiatives that states may undertake in their once honored roles as “laboratories for democracy.”

Cross posted at PrawfsBlawg and Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could this be a possible reason why Wisconsin and Minnesota have started a merger arrangement?

Anonymous said...

"the migrants would not be poor people, but those who are older or high risk."

Other than cost, which you do not mention, why would one be concerned?

Anonymous said...

The weather here should change people's minds if they are thinking about coming for the health care. I believe Milwaukee's present streak is at 21 days without temps above freezing!

Anonymous said...

The number of half-millionaires in New Jersey has doubled since the state's tax increase on upper brackets. Is there nowhere for these imperiled tax victims to go?

Anonymous said...

I am finding it difficult to convincingly distinguish Shapiro.

Anonymous said...

dont worry you wont get any migration from california or the other sunshine states