Denver Law Professor Receives Grant To Research Affordable Care Act
Michael Sousa will study the effects of Medicaid expansion through ACA on bankruptcy rates
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a term that鈥檚 been volleyed between the presidential candidates frequently in the听last several weeks. Healthcare will certainly be on Colorado voters鈥 minds as they consider Amendment 69, which would create a single-payer healthcare system for the state.
For one 快活app professor, the ACA is more than a contentious political issue.听, associate professor at the听, received a research grant last week to take an in-depth look at the effects Medicaid expansion鈥攚hich happened because of the ACA鈥攈as had on consumer bankruptcies. Sousa and his co-investigator, Brook E. Gotberg, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, will collect data for the next two years.
鈥淔inding a preliminary answer to this question may have great ramifications on the perceived success or failure of the nation鈥檚 health care system as well on the bankruptcy system鈥檚 social insurance function to thousands of consumer debtors who suffer under the weight of medical debt,鈥 Sousa says.
The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) is the premier multi-disciplinary research organization addressing matters of insolvency, and this grant from the ABI Endowment Fund is a testament to Professor Sousa鈥檚 stature as a scholar and to the importance of his research project.
Bruce Smith, Dean of the Sturm College of Law
Their study, entitled 鈥淐onsumer Bankruptcy and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Placebo or Panacea?鈥 will be the first to look at consumer bankruptcy and the ACA. They will compare data from Colorado and Missouri, since Colorado expanded Medicaid coverage through the ACA and Missouri did not.
鈥淲e expect to survey individuals who recently filed for bankruptcy to determine the extent of their medical debts and insurance coverage, and whether this had any correlative effect on their decision to file for bankruptcy,鈥 Sousa explains. The pair will also conduct in-depth interviews with dozens of consumer debtors to understand their experiences with medical debt and bankruptcy.
鈥淢ichael Sousa has received deserved national recognition as a fresh scholarly voice in the important area of consumer indebtedness based on his rigorous methodological approach, his clear treatment of complex issues, and his empathy,鈥 says Bruce Smith, dean of the Sturm College of Law. 鈥淭he American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) is the premier multi-disciplinary research organization addressing matters of insolvency, and this grant from the ABI Endowment Fund is a testament to Professor Sousa鈥檚 stature as a scholar and to the importance of his research project.鈥
