Generally, empirical studies have considered the effect of subsidies on health insurance coverage. But mandates to obtain health insurance often include monetary penalties for noncompliance, and thus a mandate with a penalty also affects the relative price of health insurance by making it costlier to be uninsured. In this respect, the health economics literature is an obvious starting point to search for information about the possible effects of mandates on coverage choices. When viewed as analogous to subsidies, there can be a straightforward integration of mandate penalties into models of individual and business behavior regarding choices about health benefits. For.
