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Licensed to Ill (Updated!)

How should a health insurance market work?

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Licensed to Ill (Updated!)

How should a health insurance market work?

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Check it out! This lesson was just updated in September 2024, and we hope you love the new and improved version. If you've already prepped an earlier version, fear not, you can still find those here through Thursday December 5, 2024.

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Licensed to Ill - Teacher Guide.pdf
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Licensed to Ill - Student Handout.pdf
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2023-2024 Versions

In the fall of 2024, Citizen Math released updated versions of every lesson in our library, plus a few new ones! We know you may have already prepped an earlier version or planned a repeat of last year, so we're continuing to make these earlier versions available through Thursday December 5, 2024.

You can find the new lessons through the regular search, and we hope you love them as much as we do. You can read more about these updates in Our Community.

Health insurance reform is one of the most important issues in the United States. It’s also one of the most contentious. Years after Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, feelings are still heated.

In this lesson, students use percents to calculate the value of insurance to people with different health profiles, analyze the insurance market from the perspectives of both consumer and company, and debate the long-term impacts of a range of policies.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • The expected value of insurance to someone depends on how likely they are to need it and the cost of the services it covers.
  • An insurance company uses the total amount that it expects to spend on medical care to determine the price of insurance.
  • Different policies affect who buys insurance and how much it costs. These include whether insurance companies are allowed to deny coverage to high-risk people and whether individuals are required to buy insurance (even if they don’t want to).

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Calculate expected value and use it to solve real-world problems
  • Solve real-world problems using percents
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Grade 7
Probability & Statistics
Grade 7
Probability & Statistics
Content Standards 7.SP.5 Understand that the probability of a chance event is a number between 0 and 1 that expresses the likelihood of the event occurring. Larger numbers indicate greater likelihood. A probability near 0 indicates an unlikely event, a probability around 1/2 indicates an event that is neither unlikely nor likely, and a probability near 1 indicates a likely event.
Mathematical Practices MP.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. MP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. MP.4 Model with mathematics. MP.8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Other Grade 7 Lessons

Big Foot Conspiracy (Updated!)

Should people with small feet pay less for shoes?

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Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Common Cents (Updated!)

Should the United States get rid of the penny?

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Rational Numbers
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

To Have and to Hold (Updated!)

Is renting a storage unit a good idea?

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Equations & Expressions
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Axle Roads (Updated!)

How do vehicles turn so smoothly?

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Measuring Circles
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Grading Scales of Justice (Updated!)

What’s the best grading policy?

Grade 7
Percents & Proportions
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Big Foot Conspiracy (Updated!)

Should people with small feet pay less for shoes?

Grade 7
Ratios & Proportions
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Common Cents (Updated!)

Should the United States get rid of the penny?

Grade 7
Rational Numbers
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

To Have and to Hold (Updated!)

Is renting a storage unit a good idea?

Grade 7
Equations & Expressions
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Axle Roads (Updated!)

How do vehicles turn so smoothly?

Grade 7
Measuring Circles
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Grading Scales of Justice (Updated!)

What’s the best grading policy?

Grade 7
Percents & Proportions
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.