Views on the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare, a.k.a. Health Reform) are mixed. Despite the fact that many people support individual provisions, overall, the measure is unpopular. Why would that be the case? A revealing Health Affairs interview with Cythnia Morgan, may reveal the answer. Morgan is a fifty-eight-year-old former hotel manager, has been out [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Health Reform' Category
Wisconsin is not Oregon
Recently in the news, a psuedo-randomized trial of Oregon’s Medicaid expansion found that people with Medicaid used more healthcare services. They use more doctor visits, more medications and even a few more ER visits and hospitalizations (though these last two were not statistically significant). Some policymakers believed that insurance will decrease ER visits and hosptializations [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Health Insurance Premiums in the Exchange
In the health insurance exchange, premiums will rise significantly. At least according to Robert Laszewski of Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review: One of the reasons health insurance in the exchange will cost a lot more in most states is because the new health law outlaws many of the existing plans now being offered and [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The Most Important Health Policy Study of Our Generation
Perhaps the most important paper on the effect of health insurance on health, spending, and access to care was released this week. Although randomized controlled trials are rare for measuring the effect of insurance, the design of the Oregon Medicaid program introduced random variation into who received Medicaid coverage. The authors write: In 2008, Oregon [...]
Read the rest of this entry »150% Rate Hike?
Robert Laszewski reports on the premium increases projected in Maryland’s health insurance exchange. …Maryland Blue Cross has filed for an average increase of 25% for individual coverage warning young people could pay as much as 150% more…
Read the rest of this entry »Health Insurance Exchanges: Lessons from Switzerland and the Netherlands
Health reforms in Switzerland and the Netherlands in 1996 and 2006, respectively, created managed competition in the countries’ health insurance markets. These insurance markets are somewhat similar to what is being proposed through the ACA’s health insurance exchnages. Ewout van Ginneken, Katherine Swartz, and Philip Van der Wees (2013) suggest that these implemenations offer 5 key lessons [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending and Promotion of High-Value Care: Interim Report
The Healthcare Economist has a new report out for the Institute of Medicine. The report is co-authored with a number of outstanding individuals at Acumen including: Thomas MaCurdy, Jay Bhattacharya, Daniella Perlroth, Anita Au-Yeung, Hani Bashour, Camille Chicklis, Kennan Cronen, Brandy Lipton, Shahin Saneinejad, Elen Shrestha, and Sajid Zaidi. IOM summarizes the goals of the [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The Cause of the Slow Economic Recovery?
Could it be the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare)? Some small businesses think so. The Washington Post speaks with a number of small business owners: These changes are less than a year away, and I still have no information about how much our premiums are going to cost…It definitely gives me pause when thinking about [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Medi-Cal expansion contentious in California
Health reform has expanded Medicaid access to millions of Americans. The question is, will the poor even want Medicaid insurance? As finances are tightening, many states are attempting to reduce the generosity of their current Medicaid benefits. In California, (where Medicaid is known as Medi-Cal), Governor Jerry Brown wants to reduce Medicaid’s benefit generosity. He [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Accountable Care Organizations in Medicare
I have written numerous posts about the pros and cons of Accountable Care Organizations. In 2012, Medicare begame allowing providers to form ACOs. An article by Pope and Kautter provides an overview of the initiative. The Medicare program, which covers the elderly and disabled, is the largest medical insurance system in the USA. One major [...]
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