From Harford County government:
Scott T. Gibson, Director of Human Resources for Harford County Government has been invited to present a research project he co-authored with Maureen Rand Oakley, Ph.D., an associate professor of political science at Mount Saint Mary’s University. The presentation will be made in April in Chicago to members of the Midwest Political Science Association. The MPSA is an association of political science professionals which was founded in 1939.
The focus of the research project is healthcare. Each of the fifty states has enacted a number of healthcare mandates, requirements that health plans offer coverage for certain healthcare providers, benefits and patient populations. Proponents of healthcare mandates often argue that mandates make insurance coverage more comprehensive and establish a threshold for acceptable insurance coverage. Consumers are protected from the possibility of paying premiums for an insurance plan that offers little or no benefit in certain medical situations. Critics of mandates, however, have argued that states have gone beyond mandating coverage for medically necessary procedures to mandating seemingly less necessary benefits. Further, critics argue that the adoption of less essential benefits has raised the price of healthcare and limited consumer choice because mandates reduce the ability of insurers to offer basic coverage at lower premiums.
The co-authored study aims to demonstrate whether there is a relationship between the prevalence of insurance mandates and premiums. Further the study will demonstrate whether the prevalence of mandates has an impact on the willingness of employers to offer healthcare and the percentage of premium that employers are willing to pay.
The study, using regression analysis, will analyze data from the fifty states to test the hypotheses that health insurance mandates are positively related to average health insurance premiums, controlling for other relevant variables.
The study will be completed by early 2011.
Gibson is a 2004 graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He received a Masters of Government Administration in 2006 from the University of Pennsylvania. Gibson currently serves as Director of Human Resources for Harford County Executive David R. Craig. Additionally, Gibson serves as an adjunct professor of political science at Mount St. Mary’s University and Harford Community College.
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