Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Of the 6.6 million uninsured children in the nation, 4.3 million are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Approximately 2.8 million children come from families at or near the federal poverty line (FPL). Despite the fact that millions of children are uninsured, children’s participation rates in Medicaid/CHIP are increasing. Today I…
Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. has a free market for health insurance and Europe relies on a state-run, socialist health care system. The U.S. ‘free market’ for health insurance, however, is in fact strictly regulated. States exert significant authority over what benefits plans can offer and what premiums they charge. Consider the following evidence…
There are approximately 265 million individuals in the United States under age 65 in 2009. Using the 2010 March Current Population Survey (CPS) data, the employee benefits research institute provides the insurance coverage breakdowns. Employer-sponsored group plan: 156.1 million (59.0 percent) Insurance bought directly from insurer on individual market: 16.7 million (6.3 percent) Medicaid: 44.1…
Health Insurance premium inflation is back. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey 2011, health insurance premiums for single individuals was $5,429 for single individuals and $15,073 for a family plan. Premium growth for single and family plans was below 6 percent per year over the last 5 years (2005-2010). However, between…
Avalere Health provides a nice summary of some of the estimates of how health reform will affect the rate at which employers offer health insurance. The provisions which may have an impact on health insurance offering include: Free-rider penalties (+) Exchanges (?) Medicaid expansion (-) Individual mandate (+) Small business tax credit (+) Insurance market…
“This isn’t about big brother telling people what to do,” says John Rice, GE’s vice-chairman, “but helping them make better choices.” The Economist reviews large employers efforts to improve employee health and thus decrease their own health care costs. Some of these efforts include: Prohibiting smoking on company premises Handing our healthy recipes Building on-site…
Is the Massachusetts health reform a success? Yes and no. In terms of increasing access to health care, it has been an unqualified success. According to the Economist, only1.9% of Massachusetts residents were uninsured in 2010. Massachusetts’ health reform has not been able to offer universal access to health care or to constrain costs. ” One…
Many economists claim that insurance that gives sick people cash to pay for their medical treatments is more efficient than insurance that provides in-kind medical services directly. Although providing in-kind services is more likely to decrease the number of false claimants than insurance that provides cash, cash benefits allow beneficiaries to control how they spend…
Accountable Care Organizations. Medical Homes. Integrated networks of providers. Many of the latest health services research catch phrases are attempting to provide patients with a one-stop shop for all their health care needs. The integrated systems attempt to prevent situations such as when multiple physicians prescribe a host of drugs, some of which could be contraindicated. These integrated…
California is in the midst of a fiscal crisis. The New York Times reports that the state now faces a $28.1 billion shortfall in revenue over the next 18 months. For California workers, things are also bleak. Unemployment has reached 12% and the cost of health insurance premiums increased by 8.1%. The California Health Care…