Austin Frakt on Medicaid and the Oregon Medicaid Study

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2013

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Austin Frakt of Boston University and blogger at The Incidental Economist talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Medicaid and the recent results released from the Oregon Medicaid study, a randomized experiment that looked at individuals with and without access to Medicaid. Recent released results from that study found no significant impact of Medicaid access on basic health measures such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but did find reduced financial stress and better mental health. Frakt gives his interpretation of those results and the implications for the Affordable Care Act. The conversation closes with a discussion of the reliability of empirical work in general and how it might or might not affect our positions on social and economic policy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.3	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.3	back to 2006.
0:25.4	For email address ismailadycontalk.org.
0:28.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.9	Today is May 8, 2013, and my guest is Austin Fract.
0:37.7	He is a health economist with educational background in physics and engineering.
0:42.2	He has appointments with the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine,
0:46.5	the Department of Health Policy and Management at Boston University School of Public Health,
0:50.9	and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
0:53.2	Since 1999, he has studied economic issues pertaining to U.S. health care policy with a recent
0:58.9	but not exclusive focus on Medicare and the Uninsured.
1:02.3	And lately, he's devoted more attention to comparative effectiveness based on observational
1:07.0	data.
1:08.0	He blogs at the incidental economist Austin, welcome to Econ Talk.
1:12.8	Thank you.
1:13.8	Thanks for having me.
1:14.8	Now, given your interest in background, I thought you'd be the ideal person to talk about
1:19.1	the recent results that have come out of the Oregon Medicaid study, and for those you
	...

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