Richard Scheffler, Ph.D.

Richard M. Scheffler, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds the Chair in Healthcare Markets & Consumer Welfare endowed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of California. Dr. Scheffler is director of The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. He has been a Rockefeller and a Fulbright Scholar, and served as president of the International Health Economists Association 4th Congress in 2004. Professor Scheffler has published more than 150 papers and edited and written six books, including his most recent book, “Is There a Doctor in the House? Market Signals and Tomorrow’s Supply of Doctors,” published by Stanford University Press, September 2008. His forthcoming book “Cracking the ADHD Code: Myths, Medication, and Money” to be published by Oxford Press Spring 2012 is supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award. He has conducted a recent review on pay for performance in health for the World Health Organization and the OECD.

Dr. Scheffler received his Ph.D. in economics from New York University. He also holds a masters in economics from Brooklyn College and a bachelors in economics from Hofstra University. 

Since April 2012, Dr. Scheffler has been the principal investigator of a HCFO-funded study assessing the impact of state-level rate review regulations on health insurance premiums. The research team is studying two forms of rate regulations: “file and use authority” under which insurers can apply a rate increase without state approval and “prior-approval authority,” which requires insurers to get approval by the state and wait until a deeming period has passed before applying a premium increase. The goal of this project is to inform state and federal policymakers on whether rate review regulation moderates health insurance premium increases, making insurance more affordable for families and small employers.