New on the Web 31: May 2006
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “A Brief Overview of the Major Flaws with Health Savings Accounts”
From The Commonwealth Fund: “Comparative Perspectives on Health Disparities,” “Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem,” “Medicare Beneficiary Out-of-Pocket Costs: Are Medicare Advantage Plans a Better Deal?”
From Community Catalyst: “Massachusetts Health Reform: What It Does; How It Was Done; Challenges Ahead”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Health Coverage For Low-Income Populations: A Comparison of Medicaid and SCHIP,” “Massachusetts Health Care Reform Plan,” “Medicaid and SCHIP Eligibility for Immigrants,” “Medicaid’s High Cost Enrollees: How Much Do They Drive Program Spending?”, “Medicare Drug Plans: Experiences of Dual Enrollees and Other Low-Income Beneficiaries,” “Talking about Medicare: Your Guide to Understanding the Program,” “Who Needs Medicaid?”
From KaiserEDU.org: “Smart Links”
From the Urban Institute: “Roadmap to Coverage: Synthesis of Findings,” “Why Do People Lack Health Insurance?”
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are accounts in which individuals who have high-deductible health insurance can save money to pay for out-of-pocket health expenses. The Bush Administration has touted HSAs as a solution to covering the uninsured. A Brief Overview of the Major Flaws With Health Savings Accounts explains why HSAs might not be such a good idea after all. (April 2006)
From The Commonwealth Fund
Medicare Beneficiary Out-of-Pocket Costs: Are Medicare Advantage Plans a Better Deal? finds that, although costs for beneficiaries in good or fair health are lower in most Medicare Advantage plans when compared to fee-for-service-Medicare, beneficiaries in poor health have the potential to pay much more in annual out-of-pocket costs. (May 2006)
Gaps in insurance coverage, once believed to affect mainly lower-income families, actually affect a much wider swath of Americans. Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem reports on the changing face of the uninsured, who hail from all income levels and ethnic backgrounds. (April 2006)
Comparative Perspectives on Health Disparities, a series of four articles published in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, explores racial and ethnic disparities in health care and attempts to refocus discussion on finding solutions. The articles are titled "U.S. Policy on Health Inequalities: The Interplay of Politics and Research," "Reframing the Racial Disparities Issue for State Governments," "State Legislative Activities Related to the Elimination of Health Disparities," and "Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Exploring Outcome-Oriented Agenda for Research and Policy." (February 2006)
From Community Catalyst
Massachusetts Health Reform: What It Does; How It Was Done; Challenges Ahead provides a comprehensive description of the Massachusetts health coverage plan, including an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. (April 2006)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation
With the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act, states can now apply some SCHIP-based principles to their Medicaid programs. Health Coverage for Low-Income Populations: A Comparison of Medicaid and SCHIP examines the similarities and difference between Medicaid and SCHIP, as well as the implications of applying selected SCHIP design features to Medicaid. (April 2006)
Massachusetts has enacted a health care plan designed to offer virtually universal health coverage. Massachusetts Health Care Reform Plan summarizes the new plan and its implications for individuals, who must obtain insurance or face tax penalties, as well as employers, who must provide insurance or contribute to the government’s “Fair Share” program. (April 2006)
Medicaid and SCHIP Eligibility for Immigrants provides an overview of the current rules on immigrants’ eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. (April 2006)
Medicaid’s High Cost Enrollees: How Much Do They Drive Program Spending? analyzes Medicaid spending on a state-by-state basis and finds that less than 5 percent of enrollees account for almost half of total spending. (April 2006)
Medicare Drug Plans: Experiences of Dual Enrollees and Other Low-Income Beneficiaries is a forum in which experts discussed how well Part D has done in providing low-income subsidies to seniors and beneficiaries with disabilities, as well as dual eligibles. The following materials were released in conjunction with the forum (May 18, 2006):
Talking about Medicare: Your Guide to Understanding the Program is designed to help beneficiaries and their families think through basic health care issues. It also provides information on how the Part D drug program works, how to choose a drug plan that meets beneficiary needs, and how low-income enrollees can get additional help with drug costs. (April 2006)
Medicaid provides health coverage for more than 52 million people, many of whom would otherwise be uninsured. But does Medicaid go far enough or too far? Who Needs Medicaid? reviews Medicaid’s current eligibility structure, considers a broader model for eligibility, and assesses the implications of recent legislative and policy developments. (April 2006)
From KaiserEDU.org
Smart Links allows students, faculty, and researchers to easily investigate health policy issues by providing one-click access to “pre-queried” searches from multiple search engines on a range of health policy topics. The results appear in a one-page, easy-to-read format and cover peer-reviewed research, policy analysis, government documents, and news reports. (May 2006)
From the Urban Institute
Roadmap to Coverage: Synthesis of Findings combines all of the research and analytic work done on the Massachusetts health coverage initiative, describes three policy approaches that would achieve universal coverage in the Commonwealth, and discusses the issues that would need to be addressed in order to implement the Roadmap options. (May 2006)
Forty-six million people, nearly 6 million more than in 2000, are uninsured today. Why Do People Lack Health Insurance? looks at individual’s reasons and motivations and also highlights the growing concern among the uninsured about the high cost of insurance. (May 2006)
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