New on the Web July 2012
From the Alliance for Health Reform: “Health Care after the Supreme Court Decision: What’s Next?,” “The Right Care at the Right Time: Are Retail Clinics Meeting a Need?”
From the Center for Studying Health System Change: “Dispelling Myths about Emergency Department Use: Majority of Medicaid Visits Are for Urgent or More Serious Symptoms”
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Health Reform Law Makes Clear that Subsidies Will Be Available in States with Federally Operated Exchanges,” “How Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion Will Impact State Budgets”
From the Department of Health and Human Services: “Number of Young Adults Gaining Insurance Due to the Affordable Care Act Now Tops 3 Million”
From Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: “Care for Dual Eligibles”
From KaiserEDU.org: “Long-Term Care 101”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act Decision,” “After the Ruling: A Consumer’s Guide,” “Filling the Gaps: Dental Care, Coverage and Access”
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute: “Will Health Reform Lead to Job Loss? Evidence from Massachusetts Says No”
From the Urban Institute: “Opting Out of the Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: How Many Uninsured Adults Would Not Be Eligible for Medicaid?”
From the Alliance for Health Reform:
Health Care after the Supreme Court Decision: What’s Next? answers the following questions: How many states will be ready to run exchanges? Is the federal government prepared to administer exchanges in states without one? What does the court’s ruling mean for people without insurance? And will some states continue to delay implementation efforts until after the November elections? (July 2012)
The Right Care at the Right Time: Are Retail Clinics Meeting a Need? is a panel discussion that explores the options for alternative care settings as a way to save on emergency department costs and to improve access to care. It also considers how quality and continuity of care are monitored in these alternative settings. (June 2012)
From the Center for Studying Health System Change:
Dispelling Myths about Emergency Department Use: Majority of Medicaid Visits Are for Urgent or More Serious Symptoms refutes the notion that Medicaid patients contribute disproportionately to crowded emergency departments and long wait times by seeking care for minor health issues. It also recommends that policy makers encourage the development of care settings that can quickly handle medical problems but that are less costly than emergency departments. (July 2012)
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Health Reform Law Makes Clear that Subsidies Will Be Available in States with Federally Operated Exchanges explains that the idea that premium tax credits will not be available to consumers in states with federally operated exchanges is incorrect. It cites sections of the Affordable Care Act that indicate that the federally facilitated exchanges will need to adhere to the same requirements as state-based exchanges, and it argues that it would be inconsistent with the purpose of the law to limit the availability of tax credits to people in certain states. (July 2012)
How Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion Will Impact State Budgets explains that estimates for increases in state spending on Medicaid due to the expansion overstate the impact on state budgets because the estimates do not take into account the savings that will result from reductions in uncompensated care. (July 2012)
From the Department of Health and Human Services:
Number of Young Adults Gaining Insurance Due to the Affordable Care Act Now Tops 3 Million finds that the gains in coverage for young adults were almost entirely from increases in private insurance. It also notes that coverage gains for young men, who previously had the highest rates of uninsurance of any gender-age group combination, were particularly large. (June 2012)
From Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
Care for Dual Eligibles describes efforts by the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, which was created by the Affordable Care Act, to integrate the two programs. It also discusses how this integration should be structured and how likely it is to lower costs. (June 2012)
From KaiserEDU.org:
Long-Term Care 101 is a presentation that explains who uses long-term care, describes different care settings, and explores how much long-term services cost. It focuses on Medicaid as the primary payer, but it also discusses Medicare spending on long-term care, as well as private long-term care insurance. (July 2012)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act Decision explains two of the provisions that the court considered, the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion, focusing on the technical legal details of the court’s decision. The report also discusses how states and the federal government are moving forward with implementation now that the court has confirmed the constitutionality of the law. (July 2012)
After the Ruling: A Consumer’s Guide is a user-friendly explanation of how the Supreme Court’s decision will affect people without insurance, consumers who get insurance through their jobs, people who want insurance but cannot afford it, people with health problems, small business owners, and seniors. It also explains parts of the law that are already in place. (June 2012)
Filling the Gaps: Dental Care, Coverage and Access is a panel discussion that examines disparities in dental coverage and care, the consequences of these disparities, and promising strategies for ensuring access to dental care for all Americans. A video and podcast are available. (June 2012)
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute:
Will Health Reform Lead to Job Loss? Evidence from Massachusetts Says No finds that Massachusetts achieved its goal of near-universal health coverage without having a negative impact on the job market. It arrives at this conclusion by comparing employment trends in Massachusetts to those trends in states that had employment patterns similar to Massachusetts prior to health reform. Since the Affordable Care Act used Massachusetts as a model, the federal law will likely not lead to job loss. (June 2012)
From the Urban Institute:
Opting Out of the Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: How Many Uninsured Adults Would Not Be Eligible for Medicaid? explains that state decisions about whether to expand Medicaid will directly affect 15.1 million uninsured adults. Of these adults, 11.5 million have incomes that are below the poverty level and therefore would not be eligible for tax credits to help with the cost of coverage. The report includes state-level data on the number of uninsured adults with incomes below 138 percent of poverty, and it breaks these data down by those who are currently eligible for Medicaid and those who would be newly eligible. (June 2012)
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