Baker Institute heath economics expert available to comment on employer health insurance mandate delay

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David Ruth
713-348-6327
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Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Baker Institute heath economics expert available to comment on employer health insurance mandate delay
Ho: It makes sense to delay the employer requirements for one year

Vivian Ho

HOUSTON – (July 3, 2013) – The Obama administration’s announcement Tuesday night that the Affordable Care Act mandate for many small businesses to provide health insurance to employees will be delayed by one year makes sense, according to a health care economics expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics, a professor of economics at Rice and a professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the requirements that employers need to satisfy under the Affordable Care Act are extremely complicated, particularly for small businesses that may be shopping for health insurance for their workers for the first time.

“It makes sense to delay the employer requirements for one year, until employers and policymakers can see what insurance policies are being offered on the state exchanges, which are scheduled to begin operating in January 2014,” Ho said.

Ho is available for interviews today and Friday, July 5. The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to schedule an interview. For more information, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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Related materials:

Ho biography: http://bakerinstitute.org/personnel/fellows-scholars/vho/.

Founded in 1993, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston ranks among the top 20 university-affiliated think tanks globally and top 30 think tanks in the United States. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows and Rice University scholars. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.