Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
As describe in this recent Health Affairs article, as of 2011, your likelihood of being offered health insurance looked like this: Courtesy of Health Affairs. How will the ACA affect the share of individuals who receive coverage (and what type of insurance coverage they receive). This table describes some of the consequences. Courtesy…
What is health insurance like in China? A 2011 paper by Zhong in Health Economics provides a nice overview, which I discuss in today’s post. Between the 1950s and the end of the 1970s, three primary insurance schemes covered almost all Chinese citizens. Cooperative Medical System (CMS). This program existed in 90% of Chinese villages. …
The California Healthcare Foundation has produced two market studies of the Los Angeles and San Diego health care markets. Key findings from the Los Angeles study include: The area’s dense urban environment has given rise to a large, fragmented health care market. Health care reform and a drop in private insurance enrollment have led to…
According to The Hartford Courant: UnitedHealthcare launched a newer online program that allows 14 million of its members to compare current prices of medical services, including how much a patient will pay out of pocket. The program is specialized to show how much the insurer would pay, and how much the patient would pay based…
Reuters reports on a PwC study evaluating health care premium growth. “The cost of healthcare services is expected to rise 7.5 percent in 2013, more than three times the projected rates for inflation and economic growth, according to an industry research report released on Thursday. But premiums for large employer-sponsored health plans could increase by…
This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. It is a time to celebrate the service of current and former members of the military. Although military veterans garner a lot of attention around Memorial Day, some veterans are not having their needs met the rest of the year. A recent study, for instance, finds that many veterans…
Today, the Supreme Court is deciding whether to let many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ACA, a.k.a. Health Reform, a.k.a. Obamacare) stand. One of the key provisions is the individual mandate. The individual mandate requires all individuals to purchase health insurance. If you don’t buy health insurance, you must pay a…
Each year, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) examines trends in employer health benefits in the state of California. Last year, I reported on the 2010 CHCF report and now I will examine the 2011 report. Between 2010 and 2011, some things have remained the same. Healthcare premiums are far outpacing inflation over the medium…
In short, yes. California is the land of managed care. Kaiser-Permanente–the managed care poster child–owns one third of the market. Love for managed care is not just in the private market; in 2010, over half of all Medi-Cal and more than one-third of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans. Further, California managed care…
Last year, I mentioned how ACO requirements will lead to more industry consolidation. A recent article by the Economist is finding that my prediction is becoming a reality. “Cigna, an insurer based in Connecticut, said it would pay $3.8 billion for HealthSpring, which offers services and insurance to the elderly. It is the latest deal…