An Employer Health Benefits Balance Sheet June 17, 2011 Perspective 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…
CBO’s Estimate of Repealing Exchange Grants: The Importance of Being Effective June 1, 2011 Perspective 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…
Remember the People Outside of the Exchanges July 22, 2011 Perspective There has been a substantial amount of focus on the recently released draft regulations governing state-based health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And that’s appropriate, since the exchanges have the important roles under reform of providing consumers with easier access to insurance and facilitating tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies…
The Louisiana Health Care Landscape June 8, 2016 Fact Sheet This fact sheet provides an overview of resident socio-demographic characteristics, population health, health coverage, and the health care delivery system in Louisiana both pre-Hurricane Katrina and in the era of health reform.
Data Note: Effect of State Decisions on State Risk Scores October 7, 2016 Issue Brief To gauge whether individual market risk pools are healthier in states that have expanded Medicaid and did not allow transitional plans, this data note compares average state risk scores using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Summary Report on Risk Adjustment for the 2015 benefit year. The analysis finds that states that expanded Medicaid and did not allow transitional plans had lower average risk scores, suggesting the risk pools in those state’s markets are healthier than in non-expansion states and in states that allowed transitional plans.
JAMA Forum: Those Pesky Lines Around States October 19, 2016 Perspective In this post for The JAMA Forum, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt discusses the concept of allowing insurers to sell health plans across state lines and how such a proposal could affect people with pre-existing conditions.
Visualizing Health Policy: U.S. Public Opinion on Health Care Reform, 2017 March 29, 2017 Infographic This Visualizing Health Policy infographic with JAMA spotlights public opinion on health reform in the United States as of 2017, including priorities and views of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and its provisions.
Sen. Mark Pryor Spotlights the Health Law’s Rx for Pre-Existing Illnesses August 21, 2014 Perspective In a column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explains why Senator Mark Pryor’s new campaign ad features the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, the somewhat forgotten “mega provision” of the law.
The Media’s Challenge When the ACA Cools As a Political Story September 10, 2014 Perspective In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses how Obamacare has cooled as a political issue and the implications for media coverage of the health law.
Medicaid Expansion in Pennsylvania: Transition from Waiver to Traditional Coverage August 3, 2015 Fact Sheet This fact sheet describes Pennsylvania’s approved 1115 waiver demonstration, Healthy PA, which will implement the ACA’s Medicaid expansion.