The current push for health reform in the US is based on a number of claims such as:  1) The US spends more than other countries on healthcare; 2) the US fares poorly in measures of health such as life expectancy; 3) there are 40 million people without health insurance.  This talk will examine the basis for these claims, showing that they are misleading, at best, when one focuses on the data.  Klick will also discuss the underlying economics of the current attempts at health insurance reform.

Jonathan Klick is an up-and-coming star in empirical law and economics. His work focuses on identifying the causal effects of laws and regulations on individual behavior using cutting-edge econometric tools. His scholarship has been published in numerous peer-reviewed economics journals, including The Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Journal of Law & Economics, The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, and The Journal of Legal Studies.