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University of Denver

Health Insurance Exchanges: A Panacea or a Band-Aid?

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>In 2010, the 111th Congress passed the first national health care reform in the United States, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This landmark legislation is intended to "fix" a health care system renowned for decreasing access and escalating costs. This paper examines one of the principal reforms in the ACA, the state health insurance exchanges. The author finds theoretical and empirical evidence to support the exchanges' potential (in conjunction with other relevant ACA reforms) to increase access, decrease insurers' excess profits and shift health care costs away from those least able to afford them. The exchanges fall short of becoming a panacea, however, as they leave a large number of people uninsured, even in optimal scenarios. Thus, the exchanges are essentially another band-aid for the system which covers additional people, yet does not cure the U.S. health care system's ills.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
M.A.
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters Thesis
Year dc:date.available
2012

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Sanchez de Tagle, Luisa
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Yavuz Yasar, Ph.D.
  • Katherine Freeman
  • Chiara Piovani
  • Haider Kahn

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/571
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1570

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Denver
Base URL
digitalcommons.du.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Sanchez de Tagle, Luisa. Health Insurance Exchanges: A Panacea or a Band-Aid?. Masters Thesis thesis, 2012. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/571