The articulation of government policy: Health insurance mandates versus taxes

Can the articulation of government policy affect behavior? Participants in our experiment report their probability of purchasing health insurance under one of two financially equivalent policies: a government mandate to purchase insurance or a tax on the uninsured. During our one-year study frame, controversy arose over the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Pre-controversy, the mandate articulation increased purchase by 10.2 percentage points relative to the tax articulation (equivalent to a $1000 decrease in premiums). Post-controversy, the mandate was no more effective than the tax. We show that articulation affects behavior and should be considered when evaluating the efficacy of policy.