Advocates of interstate competition and choice in health insurance contend that state-level mandates for particular benefits, providers, and types of coverage, as well as other regulations, distort prices, increase health care costs, and reduce access to affordable insurance. Several members of Congress and at least one presidential candidate have proposed...

The new study provides no conclusive proof one way or the other of the effect of the Massachusetts reform on medical bankruptcies.

Vigorous market competition for self-paying consumers may lead to more effective self-regulation and better health care options.

Neither the CBO nor the Treasury's assumptions--that capital bears 100 percent or that no one bears the tax--are valid. Both approaches fail to reflect recent empirical and theoretic research that finds workers bear a large portion of the burden of the CIT.