The ACA's Little Discussed But Very Intriguing State Innovation Waiver Provision: A Conversation with Stuart Butler (October 24th)

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Section 1332 of the Affordable Car Act allows states to propose Affordable Care Act-comparable state insurance programs.   Programs would need to meet certain criteria in order to win federal waiver authority.   One state currently considering a wavier is Colorado, i.e., Colorado voters will be asked to approve a state constitutional amendment that would create in part, a financing plan that would provide universal health care to all eligible Colorado residents.       

During this 20 minute conversation Dr. Butler discusses the genesis of Section 1332, why states (blue and red) would be motivated to submit a waiver, the benefits of such waivers, how the next administration might revise current 1332 regulations and state efforts to date, for example, Colorado under its ColoradoCare initiative. 

Dr. Stuart Butler is a Senior Fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.   He is also currently an AdjunctProfessor at Georgetown, a Visiting Fellow at the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, a member of the editorial board of Health Affairs, a member of the Board on Health Care Services of the Institute of Medicine and of the Advisory Group for the Academy of Medicine's Culture of Health program.   Prior to Dr. Butler spent 35 years at the Heritage Foundation.   Among other previous positions he was an Institute of Politics Fellow at Harvard and a member of Housing Secretary Jack Kemp's Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.  Dr. Butler was educated at St. Andrews University in Scotland where he received his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics, his Masters of Arts in economics and history and his Ph.D. in American economic history.  

Dr. Butler's JAMA Forum essay, noted during this conversation, is at: https://newsatjama.jama.com/2016/09/14/jama-forum-action-on-the-aca-next-year-maybe/

See also Dr. Butler's most recent November 30th JAMA Forum essay titled, "Repeal and Replace Obamacare: What Could it Mean?"  At: https://newsatjama.jama.com/2016/11/30/jama-forum-repeal-and-replace-obamacare-what-could-it-mean/.

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