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In 2006 the CDC began recommending routine HIV testing in health care settings for everyone between the ages of 13 and 64. Annual testing is recommended for people at highest risk. Our 2011 survey of Americans and HIV released last week -- our eighth comprehensive survey of its kind -- shows that more people are talking with their doctors about being tested for HIV, but that reported rates of actually getting tested have remained virtually…
There seems to be growing interest in the question of how many employers will keep offering coverage to their full-time employees once the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is fully implemented in 2014, or instead will choose to stop offering coverage and pay a penalty. While there is some good analysis and plenty of conjecture, it is impossible to predict with any certainty how employers will react at this moment because some of the key rules…
We are witnessing a battle in Washington right now about the future of health care’s two big public programs, Medicare and Medicaid. It’s a budget battle, it’s an ideological battle, it’s a partisan political battle, and while it might not always be obvious following the debate, it’s a high stakes battle for people. In 2011, over a hundred million low-income, disabled, and elderly beneficiaries will be served by the two programs. Many of the proposals…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced significant changes to the premiums charged in the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), aka the "high risk pool" created by the Affordable Care Act. Premiums will now be up to 40% lower depending on the state (in some states the cost to enrollees is unchanged), and application procedures will be eased. The PCIP plans provide coverage for people who cannot buy coverage in the…
Recently, the New York Times reported that private health insurers continue to seek large premium increases despite seeing lower than expected use of medical care and booking record profits. The story highlights a significant problem for health policy: the lack of good, public information about how health insurers manage health care use and what they pay for medical services. As a nation, we rely on competition among largely private health plans to ensure that health…
There's been quite a bit of focus lately insofar as these issues go, anyway on health insurance agents and brokers (sometimes known in the industry as "producers"). They are pushing legislation that has been introduced in Congress and is now being studied by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that would exempt agent and broker commissions for health insurance from minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) thresholds established in the health reform law. (The MLR is…
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an analysis of a bill that would repeal grants to states under the health reform law to help them establish health insurance purchasing exchanges. Not surprisingly, CBO finds that the bill would reduce federal spending due to the fact that expected grants won't be provided, to the tune of $1.9 billion over ten years. But, that's not the biggest effect on the federal budget. CBO also finds that…
This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll reveals little change in public opinion about the health reform law. Americans remain divided overall, with 42 percent having a favorable opinion of the law and 44 percent viewing it unfavorably. Three in ten continue to want to see the law expanded, while roughly one in five want it either kept as is (21%), repealed and replaced with a GOP alternative (19%), or repealed outright (19%). Americans continue to…
I usually don’t make predictions, unless they are backed up by the kind of statistical modeling we often produce. But here are three predictions I am confident about that form the basis of this latest column. GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS WILL CONTINUE TO RISE AT HISTORICALLY MODERATE LEVELS, AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS. One reason for this is the lingering effect of the recession. Employers will have little trouble attracting workers in the…
Given that people without health insurance have no protection from health care costs, it is not surprising that they are much less likely to say they are satisfied with costs than those with insurance (31 percent vs. 68 percent Majorities of both the uninsured and insured report being satisfied with the quality of care they receive, but the differences are still striking. Six in ten of the uninsured say they are satisfied with their quality…
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