Workforce and Access
EBRI releases report on employment-based coverage of adult children to age 26
Posted on January 12, 2012
The Employee Benefit Research Institute released an article entitled “The Impact of PPACA on Employment-Based Health Coverage of Children to Age 26″ in their January volume. This report reviews the evidence as to whether the mandate to extend coverage to adult children had an effect on the percentage of young adults with coverage in late 2010 and the first half of 2011. Data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) and Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) are examined, as well as data from the Center for Disease Control’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The data from these three surveys suggest that the PPACA’s coverage mandate has resulted in an increase in the percentage of young adults with employment-based health coverage as a dependent.
Continue Reading "EBRI releases report on employment-based coverage of adult children to age 26" »
NIHCR report suggests ACA will not amply address primary care physician shortages
Posted on December 20, 2011
A report released by the National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR) finds that provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase the number of primary care physicians may not be sufficient to meet the rising demands of medical services. Such provisions under the ACA include higher payment rates and educational loan forgiveness for primary care doctors. NIHCR urges policymakers to focus on ways to expand primary care that will yield more timely results. Such improvements could include opening the field of primary care to more non-physician providers, and improving the efficiency of existing practitioners.
Health Affairs article estimates that ACA would still cover 23 million without individual mandate
Posted on October 27, 2011
Many policy gurus fear that repeal of the minimum coverage provision and corresponding penalty from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would lead to adverse selection and thus a premium spiral. However, a recent Health Affairs article highlights other ACA provisions that would mitigate the negative repercussions of an individual mandate repeal. For example, the ACA subsidies to help people purchase coverage would restrain a premium spiral by absorbing much of the impact of premium increases. The article proffers that without the individual mandate, 7.8 million people would lose coverage, as opposed to other estimates in the 16-24 million range. In sum, the ACA would still cover 23 million people who otherwise would have been uninsured. Although the individual mandate would have important effects, the article says, perhaps it is not crucial to the successful implementation of health reform.
Health Affairs article warns of contingencies and uncertainties under Medicaid expansion
Posted on October 27, 2011
An article recently published in Health Affairs, “Policy Makers Should Prepare For Major Uncertainties in Medicaid Enrollment, Costs, And Needs For Physicians Under Health Reform,” presents findings from a simulation model using two nationally representative data sets to estimate Medicaid eligibility, participation, and population growth. The article warns that the number of Medicaid enrollments, associated costs, and number of new physicians needed could vary hugely under Medicaid expansion. The estimated number of people enrolling in Medicaid for the first time could vary by more than 10 million when the program changes are implemented in 2014. Additionally, costs could range from anywhere between $34 billion to $98 billion per year. The new enrollments could necessitate at least 4,500 and at most 12,100 new physicians. The study results indicate that policy makers should prepare for a great deal of unpredictability associated with Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) Medicaid reform.
AMA’s annual survey finds competition often sparse in commercial health insurance market
Posted on October 26, 2011
The American Medical Association recently issued the 2011 edition of “Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Markets.” The survey reports that four out of five metropolitan areas in the United States lack a competitive health insurance market. Those markets are rate “highly concentrated” based on Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission findings. In approximately half of such markets, at least one commercial health insurer had a market share of at least 50 percent. In 24 out of the 48 states covered, the two largest commercial insurers controlled a market share of 70 percent or more.
Commonwealth Fund publishes National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011
Posted on October 18, 2011
The Commonwealth Fund debuted the “National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011″ in a press briefing at the Kaiser Family Foundation on October 18, 2011. Cathy Schoen, the Senior Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Commonwealth, summarized the report, which updates a series of comprehensive assessments of U.S. population health and health care quality, access, efficiency, and equity. The report notes substantial improvement on several care quality indicators. However, the U.S. fell short on key measures as well. Across 42 performance indicators, the U.S. achieved a total score of 64 out of a possible 100, when comparing national rates with domestic and international benchmarks. Costs rose sharply, access to care declined, health system efficiency remained low, health disparities persisted, and heath outcomes also fell below target. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) targets many of the important gaps identified by the Commonwealth Scorecard.
Ways and Means Committee moves to redefine MAGI
Posted on October 13, 2011
Today, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved, 23-12, largely along party lines, legislation that would affect eligibility under federal health care reform law. The proposed legislation, H.R. 2576, revises the computation of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) for the purpose of determining eligibility for premium assistance tax credits and Exchange subsidies, Medicaid, and CHIP. Under the current definition, MAGI equals adjusted gross income (AGI) plus any tax-exempt interest and foreign earned income otherwise excluded from AGI. Because a portion of Social Security benefits is currently excluded from gross income (and therefore from AGI) for income tax purposes, the current MAGI definition allows only the taxable portion of Social Security benefits to count toward eligibility requirements. Representative Diane Black (R-TN) introduced H.R. 2576 to expand the definition of MAGI to include the entire amount of Social Security benefits received. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that the legislation would reduce deficits by almost $3 billion over the 2012-2016 period and by about $13 billion over the 2012-2021 period. CBO and JCT have found that adding nontaxable Social Security income to the MAGI definition would reduce Medicaid enrollment, beginning in 2014, by between 500,000 and on million people, depending on the year. The number of people purchasing insurance through the Exchanges could increase as a result.
Click here for H.R. 2576 background and proposal explanation.
Continue Reading "Ways and Means Committee moves to redefine MAGI" »
Commonwealth’s report suggests policy framework to close health care divide for vulnerable populations
Posted on October 7, 2011
The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System’s report “Ensuring Equity: A Post-Reform Framework to Achieve High Performance Health Care for Vulnerable Populations” examines the continuing problems facing vulnerable populations and offers a policy framework for moving forward. The framework features three overarching strategies to close the health care divide: 1) ensure that insurance coverage affords adequate health care access and financial protection; 2) strengthen the care delivery systems serving vulnerable populations; and 3) coordinate health care delivery with other community resources, including public health services.
Public and Allied Health Workforce
Posted on September 8, 2011
Strengthening and modernizing the health care workforce was a major goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The law contains dozens of provisions related to health care workforce issues, including national workforce policy development (what the law refers to as workforce “innovations”), increasing the supply of primary care physicians and nurses, strengthening the dental health workforce, education and training of the workforce, and expanding teaching health centers. This Implementation Brief focuses on the provisions of the ACA dealing with the education, training, and support of public health and allied health care workers; previous Briefs have focused on the other topics.
Continue Reading "Public and Allied Health Workforce" »
Commonwealth article recommends reinstatement of COBRA until 2014
Posted on August 28, 2011
Chronically high unemployment rates have left many Americans without job-based health insurance. Affordable insurance programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are, at present, only available to pregnant women, children, and parents with very low incomes. Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), which was in place from 2008-2010, individuals who were employed by a firm with 20 or more workers and had health insurance sponsored by that firm could retain their coverage for up to 18 months in the event that they lost their job. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), upon full implementation in 2014, will dramatically increase coverage options for people who lose their jobs. In the report, “Realizing Health Reform’s Potential: When Unemployed Means Uninsured: The Toll of Job Loss on Health Coverage, and How the Affordable Care Act Will Help,” the Commonwealth Fund encourages policymakers to bridge the gap for Americans until 2014. The Commonwealth Fund recommends that first, policymakers should consider an additional extension of unemployment benefits, as the current extension is set to expire in December 2011. Second, the paper suggests that government consider reestablishing the COBRA premium subsidies to help the millions of Americans who have lost their job-based health insurance until the ACA coverage takes effect in 2014.
Continue Reading "Commonwealth article recommends reinstatement of COBRA until 2014" »
Stay Connected
Most Popular Content
- Constitutional Challenges Update: Florida et al. v United States Department of Health and Human Services posted on January 4, 2012
- The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation: A Year’s Progress posted on January 26, 2012
- Chronic Disease Management posted on February 23, 2011
- Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program posted on November 1, 2011
- Update to Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Program: Final Rule posted on January 18, 2012
Categories
- Congressional Action
- Disparities
- Expert Commentary
- Fraud and Abuse
- Health Care Quality and Delivery System Reform
- Health Information
- Health Insurance
- Implementation Briefs
- Judiciary
- Key Developments
- Agency Profile
- Department of Education
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Administration for Children & Families
- Administration on Aging
- Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
- and Public Health Council
- Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Health Promotion
- Health Resources & Services Administration
- National Institutes of Health
- National Prevention
- Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight
- Office of Inspector General
- Office of Minority Health
- Office of Public Health and Science
- Office of the Secretary
- Department of Justice
- Department of Labor
- Department of the Treasury
- Grants
- Legislation
- Rulemaking, Rules, and Guidance
- Legal Challenges
- Long Term Care
- Medicaid and CHIP
- Medicare
- Public Health
- Tax Policy
- Workforce and Access
Archives by Date
Recent Posts
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–NFIB on Severability
- House approves CLASS repeal
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–Health Law Professors on the mandate
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–Solicitor General on Severability
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence/Pacific Legal Foundation on Medicaid Expansion
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–AHA on the mandate
- HHS releases document listing largest three small group products by state
- GAO report suggests HHS address contractor performance and plan for needed measures
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–Senator Reid and Congresswoman Pelosi on the mandate
- Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: Highlights from the Supreme Court Briefs–BCBS of Mass. on the mandate
