The administration and Republicans on
Capitol Hill are expressing greater interest in encouraging the
purchase of private health insurance through tax credits, an
approach that President Bill Clinton proposed in his recent
long-term care plan. However, requiring that people purchase
coverage is an unresolved but ticklish issue for Republicans,
who fear that such an approach would be regarded as a tax
increase. Basic questions remain, though, about why health
insurance coverage has eroded over the past twenty years, and
that is the subject that Richard Kronick and Todd Gilmer
address in this paper.