New on the Web October 2012
From the Alliance for Health Reform: “Making Sense of the Census Uninsured Numbers”
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Uninsured Rate Fell or Held Steady in Almost Every State Last Year, New Census Data Show”
From the Center on Health Insurance Reforms: “Selling Health Insurance across State Lines: An Assessment of State Laws and Implications for Improving Choice and Affordability of Coverage”
From the Commonwealth Fund: “Health Care in the 2012 Presidential Election: How the Obama and Romney Plans Stack Up”
From the Center for Children and Families: “Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies”
From HealthCare.gov: “2012 Annual Rate Review Report: Rate Review Saves Estimated $1 Billion for Consumers”
From the Journal of the American Medical Association: “Visualizing Health Policy: Costs”
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: “Coverage of Preventive Services for Adults in Medicaid,” “Medicaid Coverage and Care for the Homeless Population: Key Lessons to Consider for the 2014 Medicaid Expansion”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust: “Employer Health Benefits: 2012 Summary of Findings”
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute: “Plan Participation in Health Insurance Exchanges: Implications for Competition and Choice,” “State Progress in Implementing Health Insurance Exchanges: Results from 10 State Analyses”
From the State Health Reform Assistance Network: “Medicaid Expansion: Framing and Planning a Financial Impact Analysis”
From the Urban Institute: “Despite Criticism, the Affordable Care Act Does Much to Contain Health Care Costs”
From the Alliance for Health Reform:
Making Sense of the Census Uninsured Numbers discusses localized Census data on health coverage and examines recent trends in cities, counties, and congressional districts. It also addresses insurance trends for several demographic groups. (September 2012)
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Uninsured Rate Fell or Held Steady in Almost Every State Last Year, New Census Data Show breaks down state-level Census data to show that the decline of residents who are uninsured is largely a result of increased private coverage for young adults and increased enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). (September 2012)
From the Center on Health Insurance Reforms:
Selling Health Insurance across State Lines: An Assessment of State Laws and Implications for Improving Choice and Affordability of Coverage analyzes the implementation of laws in six states (GA, KY, ME, RI, WA, and WY) that allow the sale of insurance across state lines. Although these laws were designed to enhance consumer choice, to increase competition, and to make insurance more affordable, the complexities of how insurance is sold and regulated have deterred insurance companies from entering new markets, thereby undermining the laws’ goals. (October 2012)
From the Commonwealth Fund:
Health Care in the 2012 Presidential Election: How the Obama and Romney Plans Stack Up compares the potential outcome of the two candidates’ plans with respect to the following: the number of Americans with health coverage, affordability of coverage, consumer protections, consumer choice, help for small businesses, improvements to Medicare, health care quality, and controlling growth in health spending. The report finds that the Affordable Care Act would likely outperform Romney’s proposals in each of these areas. (October 2012)
From the Center for Children and Families:
Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies elaborates on the minimum requirements for navigators and discusses how states can expand the role of navigators to better serve consumers. It also includes a table with examples of activities that navigators can engage in to fulfill their required responsibilities. (September 2012)
From HealthCare.gov:
2012 Annual Rate Review Report: Rate Review Saves Estimated $1 Billion for Consumers discusses the benefits of rate review, which is the provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance companies to justify premium increases of 10 percent or more. Since its implementation in September 2011, rate review has saved consumers money, and it has increased transparency in the insurance market. (September 2012)
From the Journal of the American Medical Association:
Visualizing Health Policy: Costs is an infographic that illustrates the surge in health care spending over the past 50 years, the uneven distribution of costs among the U.S. population, the rise in premiums over the past decade, and the fact that more than half of American families have delayed care because of high costs. (September 2012)
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:
Coverage of Preventive Services for Adults in Medicaid finds that, while most states cover at least 30 preventive services for adults with Medicaid, only five states cover these services without cost-sharing. It also breaks down state coverage of preventive services for adults by type, including cancer screenings, STI counseling, and screenings for chronic conditions. (September 2012)
Medicaid Coverage and Care for the Homeless Population: Key Lessons to Consider for the 2014 Medicaid Expansion draws on the experience of administrators and frontline workers serving the homeless population to identify barriers to enrollment and access, strategies to overcome these barriers, and potential opportunities and challenges that will come with the Medicaid expansion. (September 2012)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level documents the persistence of health disparities among men by providing extensive state-level data, broken down by racial and ethnic group, on three factors: health status, access to and use of care, and social determinants of health. (September 2012)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust:
Employer Health Benefits: 2012 Summary of Findings provides a detailed look at trends in job-based health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, and cost-sharing. It includes data that are broken down by firm size and plan type, and it also includes information on participation in wellness programs. (September 2012)
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute:
Plan Participation in Health Insurance Exchanges: Implications for Competition and Choice considers how competition among insurance plans is likely to play out in 10 states: AL, CO, MD, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VA. It finds that states are more likely to experience effective competition in their exchange if they have multiple insurers with a significant market share and the ability to negotiate with providers. (September 2012)
State Progress in Implementing Health Insurance Exchanges: Results from 10 State Analyses describes the status of exchange development in 10 states: AL, CO, MD, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VA. Because the Affordable Care Act allows for a great deal of flexibility in exchange design, states are developing exchanges with a variety of goals and characteristics. The report includes a table that outlines key differences among the 10 featured states. (September 2012)
From the State Health Reform Assistance Network:
Medicaid Expansion: Framing and Planning a Financial Impact Analysis includes a worksheet and table that can help states figure out the financial impact of expanding Medicaid. The worksheet and table address the following financial considerations: the cost of newly eligibles, the cost of those currently eligible but not enrolled, administrative costs, savings from transitioning current enrollees into the newly eligible group, and savings from reductions in state programs for the uninsured. (September 2012)
From the Urban Institute:
Despite Criticism, the Affordable Care Act Does Much to Contain Health Care Costs describes the provisions of the law that address spending growth, including cuts in payments to Medicare providers, the managed competition structure of the exchanges, and the excise tax on high-cost insurance plans. It also discusses provisions that seek to change the way health care is delivered, such as the establishment of medical homes and accountable care organizations (ACOs), penalties for hospital readmissions, and experiments with bundled payments. (October 2012)
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