New on the Web 57 (June 2009)
From the Center for American Progress: “Health Reform that Works for Kids”
From the Commonwealth Fund: “Health Insurance and Health Care Access before and after SSDI Entry”
From the Council of Economic Advisers: “The Economic Case for Health Reform”
From Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families: “The Last Piece of the Puzzle: Providing High-Quality, Affordable Health Coverage to All Children through National Health Reform”
From Health Affairs: “Trends in Underinsurance and the Affordability of Employer Coverage, 2004-2007,” “Implementing Health Care Reform in Massachusetts: Strategic Lessons Learned”
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: “Low-Income Adults under Age 65—Many Are Poor, Sick, and Uninsured,” “The Coverage and Cost Impacts of Expanding Medicaid”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Putting Women’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level”
From Mathematica: “Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: Efforts to Improve Data Collection”
From the New Yorker: “The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas Town Can Teach Us about Health Care”
From the Center for American Progress:
Health Reform that Works for Kids discusses the critical issues that health reform must address to meet the needs of children, including how to guarantee that children’s coverage is available and affordable for all families, and whether the benefit designs of private plans will include services that are essential to children’s care. (May 2009)
From the Commonwealth Fund:
Health Insurance and Health Care Access before and after SSDI Entry sheds new light on the experiences of people with disabilities and raises the question of why many people who are eligible for Medicare are denied coverage when they are perhaps most in need of it. While the cost of eliminating the waiting period seems high, it represents only a small percentage increase in Medicare spending, and it could help states reduce their spending on public coverage programs. (May 2009)
From the Council of Economic Advisers:
The Case for Health Reform provides an overview of how health care affects the economy and a forecast of where we will end up in the absence of reform that includes expanded coverage. If the annual rate of growth of health care spending is not reduced, the number of uninsured could rise to 72 million by the year 2040. (June 2009)
From Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families:
The Last Piece of the Puzzle: Providing High-Quality, Affordable Health Coverage to All Children through National Health Reform provides a blueprint of what children and families need from health reform, including an overview of where gaps in children’s coverage remain. It also includes recommendations regarding the key challenges that must be addressed in order to complete the puzzle. (May 2009)
From Health Affairs:
Trends in Underinsurance and the Affordability of Employer Coverage, 2004-2007 focuses on cost increases for the 161 million Americans who have job-based health coverage. Over the period studied, for all adults, expected medical spending rose by 34 percent, or $729. The study also explores the relationship between rising out-of-pocket costs for adults with job-based coverage and rising health care costs overall. (June 2009) Subscription Required
Implementing Health Care Reform in Massachusetts: Strategic Lessons Learned emphasizes that extensive reform requires a sequence of changes. It also points out that there is a political advantage in conceptualizing comprehensive health reform as a continuous campaign. (May 2009) Subscription Required
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:
Low-Income Adults under Age 65—Many Are Poor, Sick, and Uninsured examines the characteristics and insurance coverage of this group, which numbers more than 50 million. People in this group are more likely to be in poor health than other Americans and are the least likely to have health insurance. And because Medicaid coverage is extremely limited for adults without dependent children, a large share of low-income adults with significant health needs is uninsured. (June 2009)
The Coverage and Cost Impacts of Expanding Medicaid analyzes several options for covering more low-income uninsured people through Medicaid. It also explains how reductions in spending by firms and individuals for uncompensated care will help mitigate the costs associated with a Medicaid expansion. (May 2009)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Putting Women’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level moves beyond national figures to quantify where disparities are greatest and provides a rare look at the wide variation among states. The report also documents disparities in the factors that influence health and access to care, such as income and education.(June 2009)
From Mathematica:
Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: Efforts to Improve Data Collection examines recent federal and state activities aimed at strengthening the collection of health-related data on race, ethnicity, and primary language. It highlights three states, California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, that have implemented laws or regulations regarding data collection activities by hospitals, health plans, and government agencies. (May 2009)
From the New Yorker:
The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas Town Can Teach Us about Health Care explores the reasons why health care costs are significantly higher in some areas of the country than in others, and it reveals that quality of care is not necessarily related to overall cost. The essay cites overuse of medical services, the diagnostic process, and the financial incentives and rewards doctors receive as a few of the key reasons behind the high cost of health care in some parts of the country. (June 2009)
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