May 2013 - Health Affairs - The Network of Care

Is The Recent Health Care Spending Growth Slowdown Sustainable Over The Long Term?

Following the third straight year in which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated the growth in national health expenditures to be a record-low 3.9 percent, considerable speculation on the causes of slower spending growth has come from...

Published Tue, May 07 2013 5:10 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Insurance, Payment, Health Care Costs, Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Spending, Medicare, Pharma, Quality, Hospitals, Medicaid, Technology, Effectiveness

Why ‘Medicare-For-All’ Is Not The Answer

The Affordable Care Act survived the Supreme Court and a presidential election, so why does it face such an uncertain future? One reason is that it was essentially silent on how to control costs. This has led many pundits -- including the likes of Paul...

Published Tue, May 14 2013 1:53 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Nonmedical Determinants, Policy, Insurance, Physicians, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Quality, Effectiveness

The Benefits Of Medicaid Expansion: A Reply To Heritage’s Misleading Use Of Our Work

In a publication released in numerous states as well as a JAMA Forum article and a recent list of ten supposed “myths” about Medicaid expansion , the Heritage Foundation repeatedly cites our paper for the proposition that “40 of 50 states are projected...

Published Fri, May 03 2013 6:30 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Policy, Payment, Health Care Costs, States, Spending, Coverage, Medicaid, Effectiveness, Mental Health

Seven Choices Medicare Plans Will Need To Make In Order To Survive

Although the April 1 Call Letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seemed to reverse proposed rate cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, the outlook for insurers still isn’t rosy. The “all-in” impact of the per capita rate increases...

Published Wed, May 01 2013 10:28 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Competition, Quality

Implementing Health Reform: The Role Of Agents And Brokers In The Exchanges

The torrent of Affordable Care Act guidance that marked the end of April has continued into May, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released on May 1, 2013, a Health Insurance Marketplace Guidance on the role of agents, brokers, and...

Published Thu, May 02 2013 6:37 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, States, Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Competition

Securing The Enrollment Of Uninsured Americans In Health Coverage

Tens of millions of uninsured people will soon have the ability to gain health coverage as the first enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) begins on October 1, 2013, with actual coverage starting in January 2014. New marketplaces will...

Published Fri, May 03 2013 7:10 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Politics, Insurance, States, Coverage, Medicaid

Medical Homes Work With The Patient At The Center

"Medical home" has become a term of art within the current wave of health reform. It’s in the medical literature, on the internet and embedded in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. There is much debate over what “medical...

Published Fri, May 03 2013 7:54 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Physicians, Health IT, Primary Care, Quality, Children

Post On Exchange Navigators Leads Health Affairs Blog April Top-Ten List

The list of most-read Health Affairs Blog posts for April includes four posts in Tim Jost's ongoing series on implementing the Affordable Care Act; number one on the top-ten list is Tim's post about proposed regulations on health insurance exchange...

Published Wed, May 15 2013 11:59 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Blog, Consumers, Insurance, Health Care Costs, States

Medicaid Per Capita Caps: How Do They Work?

Yesterday, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.) released their plan for “ Making Medicaid Work .” One of the blueprint’s key proposals is to implement per capita caps, which would impose a cap on the funds that the federal...

Published Thu, May 02 2013 1:23 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Politics, States, Spending, Medicaid

Implementing Health Reform: Defining ‘Minimum Value’ For Employer Coverage

Although most of the major rules necessary to implement the 2014 Affordable Care Act reforms are now in proposed or final form, gaps still remain to be filled. On April 30, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service released a notice of proposed rulemaking intended...

Published Wed, May 01 2013 7:47 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Implementing Health Reform: Employer Coverage Option Notices

As Affordable Care Act implementation inexorably moves into place, guidance continues to issue forth from the implementing agencies -- now almost on a daily basis -- shoring up the edifice that is becoming the reality of health care reform. On May 8,...

Published Thu, May 09 2013 12:06 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, States, Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Saving Money While Providing Benefit In Medicare: A Standard Applied Only To Hospice

Medicare is caught between two countervailing impulses: the desire of beneficiaries (and providers and the adult children of beneficiaries) to have a benefit package that covers more, rather than less, and the desire to restrain program spending due to...

Published Thu, May 16 2013 1:18 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Policy, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Quality, Comparative Effectiveness, End-of-Life Care

A Life-Course Approach to Vaccination Can Drive Healthy Aging

As life spans increase and birth-rates decrease, the world’s population is aging. From 2000 to 2025, the over-60 demographic segment will double from 600 million to almost 1.2 billion. By 2050, it will nearly double again, surpassing two billion and accounting...

Published Wed, May 22 2013 12:28 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Public Health, Prevention, Policy, Primary Care, Global Health

New Health Affairs Issue: Will The Health Care Spending Growth Slowdown Last?

Health Affairs’ May issue , released today, analyzes the recent slowing in the growth of health care expenditures and explores whether the trend will last. The issue also addresses major cost drivers in Medicare and presents proposals for putting the...

Published Mon, May 06 2013 1:05 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Policy, Insurance, Payment, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Mental Health

Oregon’s Medicaid Experiment: Coverage Is The First Step

As a longtime physician, I know that having access to stable, affordable health coverage is a critical step in achieving better health outcomes. That view is underscored in a study that appeared in today’s (May 2) New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM...

Published Thu, May 02 2013 11:49 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Chronic Care, Health Care Costs, States, Coverage, Access, Medicaid, Mental Health

May 2013 - Health Affairs

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