Coleman Drake

Contributions to Public Health

• Evaluating Health Insurance Marketplace Policies and Subsidy Design: My research evaluates how federal and state policy choices—such as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, premium tax credits, and silver loading—impact health insurance premiums, enrollment, and federal spending. By applying quasi-experimental econometric methods to marketplace data, I generate causal evidence on how structured subsidies lower consumer costs, expand population coverage, and improve financial protection for low- and middle-income families. 
  • Drake C, Anderson DM. Terminating Cost-Sharing Reduction Subsidy Payments: The Impact Of Marketplace Zero-Dollar Premium Plans On Enrollment. Health Affairs. 2020.
  • Drake C, Ryan C, Dowd B. Sources of Consumer Inertia in the Individual Health Insurance Market. Journal of Public Economics. 2022.
• Assessing State Health Care Waivers and Market Stability: I analyze how state-level policy decisions, including Section 1332 innovation waivers, reinsurance programs, and Medicaid expansion, reshape local insurance markets. My work quantifies the downstream impacts of state health policies on insurer participation and consumer affordability, providing empirical benchmarks that help state and federal regulators design reforms that expand coverage rather than inadvertently restricting it.
  • Anderson DM, Golberstein E, Drake C. Georgia’s Reinsurance Waiver Associated With Decreased Premium Affordability And Enrollment. Health Affairs. 2024.
  • Anderson DM, Abraham JM, Drake C. Rural-Urban Differences In Individual-Market Health Plan Affordability After Subsidy Payment Cuts. Health Affairs. 2019.
• Quantifying Geographic Access to Care: I examine spatial barriers to care for vulnerable populations, focusing on how geographical proximity, travel times, and digital infrastructure constrain access to essential health services. By combining geospatial measurement techniques with healthcare administrative data, my research highlights how local market dynamics and infrastructure limitations influence care utilization, particularly in underserved and rural communities.
  • Drake C, Zhang Y, Chaiyachati KH, Polsky D. The Limitations of Poor Broadband Internet Access for Telemedicine Use in Rural America: An Observational Study. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2019.
  • Drake C, Nagy D, Nguyen T, Kraemer KL, Mair C, Wallace D, Donohue J. A Comparison of Methods for Measuring Spatial Access to Health Care. Health Services Research. 2021.
• Evaluating Policies and Healthcare Access for Substance Use Disorders: My research investigates public policy solutions to the opioid epidemic, focusing on access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and the impacts of cannabis legalization. Using causal inference methods, I evaluate how state Medicaid policies, telehealth regulations, and provider network adequacy standards affect treatment uptake and opioid-related outcomes, identifying strategies to mitigate overdose risk and disparities in treatment access.
  • Meiselbach MK, Drake C, Saloner B, Zhu JM, Stein BD, Polsky D. Medicaid Managed Care: Access To Primary Care Providers Who Prescribe Buprenorphine. Health Affairs. 2021.
  • Drake C, Wen J, Hinde J, Wen H. Recreational Cannabis Laws and Opioid-Related Emergency Department Visit Rates. Health Economics. 2021.
• Educating and Mentoring the Next Generation of Health Economists: As a professor, I develop and teach advanced doctoral-level coursework in health economics, econometric theory, and policy evaluation. I prioritize training graduate students in applied causal inference, guiding them from study design to publication, and helping them translate complex statistical findings into actionable public health solutions.