New on the Web 75 (December 2010)
From the Alliance for Health Reform: “Trends in Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S.: The Impact of the Economy”
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Employer-Based Health Coverage Declined Sharply over Past Decade”
From the Commonwealth Fund: “Adults Ages 50-64 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010,” “State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003-2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits”
From the Employee Benefit Research Institute: “Findings from the 2010 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey”
From Health Affairs: “The 2007-09 Recession and Health Insurance Coverage,” “Early Retiree Insurance”
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: “The Uninsured: A Primer,” “Using Schools and Data Matching to Enroll Kids in Medicaid and CHIP”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Rate Review: Spotlight on State Efforts to Make Health Insurance More Affordable,” “The Social Security COLA and Medicare Part B Premium: Questions, Answers, and Issues”
From the National Women’s Law Center: “Making the Grade on Women’s Health”
From the Urban Institute: “Swimming Upstream: Improving Access to Indigent Health Care in the Midst of Major Economic Challenges”
From the Alliance for Health Reform:
Trends in Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S.: The Impact of the Economy discusses how states are responding to the challenge of insuring the uninsured, what assistance the federal government has provided, and how and when health reform will address these issues. (December 2010)
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Employer-Based Health Coverage Declined Sharply over Past Decade discusses how the health reform law will reverse this trend by giving tax credits to small businesses to help them provide coverage, fining large employers that do not offer affordable coverage to their employees, and encouraging workers to take up employer coverage through the individual responsibility provision. (December 2010)
From the Commonwealth Fund:
Adults Ages 50-64 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 describes the provisions that adults in this age group will benefit from the most, including the pre-existing condition insurance plan, the expansion of Medicaid eligibility, and the creation of exchanges and premium subsidies for people with low and moderate incomes. (December 2010)
State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003-2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits finds that family premiums for job-based coverage increased by 52 percent, while per-person deductibles rose by 77 percent. Without the Affordable Care Act, average family premiums would rise to more than $23,000 by 2020. (December 2010)
From the Employee Benefit Research Institute:
Findings from the 2010 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey looks at the growth of consumer-driven health plans and high-deductible plans and the impact of these plans on the behavior and attitudes of adults with private coverage. The findings reveal several trends, including continued slow growth in consumer-driven plans, and that adults in such plans were more likely to report that they had avoided or delayed getting care because of cost than those with traditional coverage. (December 2010)
From Health Affairs:
The 2007-09 Recession and Health Insurance Coverage finds that 5 million Americans lost job-based health insurance during the recession, particularly residents of the Midwest and South. Adults bore the burden of this decline in insurance, while children were largely protected by public insurance programs. (December 2010) Subscription Required
Early Retiree Insurance describes the temporary Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, which reimburses retiree health plans for high-cost medical claims. The program is intended to slow the decline in job-based coverage for retirees until the health insurance exchanges are up and running in 2014. (November 2010)
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:
The Uninsured: A Primer presents basic information about the uninsured, including who they are and why they do not have health coverage. The brief also describes how the health reform law will expand coverage to a majority of those who are currently uninsured. (December 2010)
Using Schools and Data Matching to Enroll Kids in Medicaid and CHIP examines efforts by the Chicago Public School system to use multiple strategies to target children for outreach and enrollment in public health insurance programs and other benefits, including data matching with the school lunch program, marketing, and local organizing. (December 2010)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Rate Review: Spotlight on State Efforts to Make Health Insurance More Affordable provides the results of a survey of 50 state rate review statutes and follow-up interviews with insurance regulators in 10 states (AK, CT, CO, ID, LA, ME, OH, PA, SC, and WI) to find out how rate regulation works in practice. (December 2010)
The Social Security COLA and Medicare Part B Premium: Questions, Answers, and Issues explains the relationship between the Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) and Medicare Part B premiums and how those who are covered by both programs will be affected. (December 2010)
From the National Women’s Law Center:
Making the Grade on Women’s Health is a webinar that presents the findings of their latest report in a series that assesses women’s health at the national and state levels, including data on race and ethnicity, income, and health status. The panel also discusses the potential of the health reform law to improve women’s health. (December 2010)
From the Urban Institute:
Swimming Upstream: Improving Access to Indigent Health Care in the Midst of Major Economic Challenges discusses San Mateo County’s initiative to improve access to high-quality care for uninsured and underinsured adults, and it offers lessons to local and national policymakers on how to make progress despite financial obstacles. (December 2010)
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