Emergency Departments, Behavioral Health, And More [From The Editor-in-Chief]
(Source: Health Affairs)
Source: Health Affairs - October 2, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Weil, A. R. Tags: From The Editor-in-Chief Source Type: research
Health Benefits In 2017: Stable Coverage, Workers Faced Considerable Variation In Costs [Web First]
The annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey found that in 2017, average annual premiums (employer and worker contributions combined) rose 4 percent for single coverage, to $6,690, and 3 percent for family coverage, to $18,764. Covered workers contributed 18 percent of the premium for single coverage and 31 percent for family coverage, on average, although there was considerable variation around these averages. For covered workers in small firms, 10 percent did not make a premium contribution for family coverage, while 36 percent mad...
Source: Health Affairs - September 19, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Claxton, G., Rae, M., Long, M., Damico, A., Whitmore, H., Foster, G. Tags: Web First Source Type: research
Reducing TB Among Central Asia Labor Migrants [From the Publisher]
(Source: Health Affairs)
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Babamuradov, B., Trusov, A., Sianozova, M., Zhandauletova, Z. Tags: Access To Care, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention From the Publisher Source Type: research
Maternal And Child Health: Foundations Funding [GrantWatch]
(Source: Health Affairs)
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Health Philanthropy, Maternal And Child Health, Mental Health/Substance Abuse GrantWatch Source Type: research
'Go Back To California: When Providers Fail Transgender Patients [Narrative Matters]
A transgender doctor is mistreated by a health care provider—and wants to make the system better for patients like her. (Source: Health Affairs)
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Arrowsmith, L. Tags: Personal Experience ( Narrative Matters ) Source Type: research
Mortality In Rural China Declined As Health Insurance Coverage Increased, But No Evidence The Two Are Linked [Global Health]
Health insurance holds the promise of improving population health and survival and protecting people from catastrophic health spending. Yet evidence from lower- and middle-income countries on the impact of health insurance is limited. We investigated whether insurance expansion reduced adult mortality in rural China, taking advantage of differences across Chinese counties in the timing of the introduction of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS). We assembled and analyzed newly collected data on NCMS implementation, linked to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on cause-specific, age-standar...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Zhou, M., Liu, S., Kate Bundorf, M., Eggleston, K., Zhou, S. Tags: Insurance Coverage, International Issues Global Health Source Type: research
Access To Obstetric Services In Rural Counties Still Declining, With 9 Percent Losing Services, 2004-14 [Access To Obstetric Care]
Recent closures of rural obstetric units and entire hospitals have exacerbated concerns about access to care for more than twenty-eight million women of reproductive age living in rural America. Yet the extent of recent obstetric unit closures has not yet been measured. Using national data, we found that 9 percent of rural counties experienced the loss of all hospital obstetric services in the period 2004–14. In addition, another 45 percent of rural US counties had no hospital obstetric services at all during the study period. That left more than half of all rural US counties without hospital obstetric serv...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Hung, P., Henning-Smith, C. E., Casey, M. M., Kozhimannil, K. B. Tags: Access To Care, Maternal And Child Health, Rural Health Care, State/Local Issues Access To Obstetric Care Source Type: research
Sustained Gains In Coverage, Access, And Affordability Under The ACA: A 2017 Update [ACA Insurance Coverage]
The significant gains in health insurance coverage and improvements in health care access and affordability that followed the implementation of the key coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 have persisted into 2017. Adults in all parts of the country, of all ages, and across all income groups have benefited from a large and sustained increase in the percentage of the US population that has health insurance. The gains have been particularly striking among low- and moderate-income Americans living in states that expanded Medicaid. Our latest survey data from the Urban Institute’s 2017 Health Reform Mon...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Long, S. K., Bart, L., Karpman, M., Shartzer, A., Zuckerman, S. Tags: Access To Care, Health Reform, Insurance Coverage, Affordable Care Act ACA Insurance Coverage Source Type: research
Despite Boosting Childrens Coverage Rates To Historic Levels, Medicaid And CHIP Face An Uncertain Future [Medicaid & CHIP]
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was enacted twenty years ago, covers uninsured children who do not qualify for Medicaid but lack access to affordable coverage. Together these safety-net programs have boosted the health insurance coverage rate among US children to historic levels, exceeding 95 percent of children in 2015. However, the future of both CHIP and Medicaid is uncertain. In the current congressional debate over the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid has become a target for potential funding reductions and other changes that would undermine the scope of children’s coverage. Congres...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Brooks, T. A. Tags: Insurance Coverage - Children, Medicaid & amp; CHIP Source Type: research
Medicaid Expansion For Adults Had Measurable 'Welcome Mat Effects On Their Children [Medicaid & CHIP]
This study used data from the 2013–15 American Community Survey to provide the first national-level (analytical) estimates of welcome-mat effects on children’s coverage post ACA. We estimated that 710,000 low-income children gained coverage through these effects. The study was also the first to show a link between parents’ eligibility for Medicaid and welcome-mat effects for their children under the ACA. Welcome-mat effects were largest among children whose parents gained Medicaid eligibility under the ACA expansion to adults. Public coverage for these children increased by 5.7 percentage points—mor...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Hudson, J. L., Moriya, A. S. Tags: Insurance Coverage - Children, Maternal And Child Health, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act & amp; CHIP Source Type: research
Newly Eligible Enrollees In Medicaid Spend Less And Use Less Care Than Those Previously Eligible [Medicaid & CHIP]
Understanding the health care spending and utilization of various types of Medicaid enrollees is important for assessing the budgetary implications of both expansion and contraction in Medicaid enrollment. Despite the intense debate surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), however, little information is available on the spending and utilization patterns of the nonelderly adult enrollees who became newly eligible for Medicaid under the ACA. Using data for 2012–14 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we compared health care spending and utilization of newly eligible Medicaid enrollees with those of nondisabled ...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Jacobs, P. D., Kenney, G. M., Selden, T. M. Tags: Health Reform, Managed Care - Medicaid, Medicaid, Health Spending & amp; CHIP Source Type: research
Substantial Churn In Health Insurance Offerings By Small Employers, 2014-15 [Private Health Insurance]
New data for 2014–15 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey–Insurance Component longitudinal survey show substantial churn in insurance offers by small employers (those with fifty or fewer workers), with 14.6 percent of employers that offered insurance in 2014 having dropped it in 2015 and 5.5 percent of those that did not offer it adding coverage. (Source: Health Affairs)
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Vistnes, J. P., Rohde, F., Miller, G. E., Cooper, P. F. Tags: Insurance Coverage, Insurance - Employer-Based System Private Health Insurance Source Type: research
Networks In ACA Marketplaces Are Narrower For Mental Health Care Than For Primary Care [ACA Marketplace Provider Networks]
There is increasing concern about the extent to which narrow-network plans, generally defined as those including fewer than 25 percent of providers in a given health insurance market, affect consumers’ choice of and access to specialty providers—particularly in mental health care. Using data for 2016 from 531 unique provider networks in the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces, we evaluated how network size and the percentage of providers who participate in any network differ between mental health care providers and a control group of primary care providers. Compared to primary care networks, participation in ...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Zhu, J. M., Zhang, Y., Polsky, D. Tags: Insurance Coverage, Mental Health/Substance Abuse, Consumer Issues, Affordable Care Act ACA Marketplace Provider Networks Source Type: research
Most Marketplace Plans Included At Least 25 Percent Of Local-Area Physicians, But Enrollment Disparities Remained [ACA Marketplace Provider Networks]
The Affordable Care Act allows commercial insurers participating in the Marketplaces to vary the size of their provider networks as long as the providers are "sufficient" in numbers and types. Concerns have been growing over the increasing use of restricted-provider or narrow networks in Marketplace plans because of their implications for reduced access to care, but little is known about the breadth and stability of these networks over time or what types of enrollees choose such plans. Using national data, we found that in 2016, 60 percent of provider networks in plans offered in the federally facilitated Marketplaces...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Sen, A. P., Chen, L. M., Cox, D. F., Epstein, A. M. Tags: Physicians, Insurance Market, Affordable Care Act ACA Marketplace Provider Networks Source Type: research
Narrow Networks On The Health Insurance Marketplaces: Prevalence, Pricing, And The Cost Of Network Breadth [ACA Marketplace Provider Networks]
Anecdotal reports and systematic research highlight the prevalence of narrow-network plans on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance Marketplaces. At the same time, Marketplace premiums in the period 2014–16 were much lower than projected by the Congressional Budget Office in 2009. Using detailed data on the breadth of both hospital and physician networks, we studied the prevalence of narrow networks and quantified the association between network breadth and premiums. Controlling for many potentially confounding factors, we found that a plan with narrow physician and hospital networks was 16 percent ch...
Source: Health Affairs - September 5, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Dafny, L. S., Hendel, I., Marone, V., Ody, C. Tags: Health Care Finance, Health Reform ACA Marketplace Provider Networks Source Type: research
