What You Need to Know About the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule (MFAR) January 27, 2020 Issue Brief On November 18, 2019, the Trump Administration released a proposed rule called the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation (MFAR). This brief provides some context on Medicaid financing, an overview of current state payment and financing rules, the provisions in the rule and potential implications for considerations.
Self-insured Companies Do No Better on Cost Control January 27, 2020 Perspective A data surprise? Drew Altman, in his latest Axios column, shows there is no difference between large self-insured and fully insured companies when it comes to controlling health care costs, bucking conventional wisdom.
Men And Women Of All Ages Largely Unaware Of When Most Abortions Occur January 24, 2020 Slide A majority of Americans incorrectly think most abortions occur 8 weeks or more into a pregnancy and few are aware that less than 5% of abortions occur more than 20 weeks into a pregnancy. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.
Pricing and Payment for Medicaid Prescription Drugs January 23, 2020 Issue Brief Attention to high list prices continues at both the state and federal levels with a number of policy proposals aimed at lowering drug prices and there is renewed interest in drug prices and reimbursement within Medicaid. Changes made in 2016 to federal rules governing how state Medicaid programs pay for drugs aimed to make the prices paid more accurate, but increased reliance on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pose challenges to drug price transparency. This brief explains Medicaid prescription drug prices to help policymakers and others understand Medicaid’s role in drug pricing and any potential consequences of policy changes for the program.
KFF Poll: Majority of Americans Say Recent State Abortion Regulations Are Intended to Reduce Access January 22, 2020 News Release The latest KFF poll finds most Americans (67%) think recent state-level abortion restrictions are designed to make access to abortion more difficult, rather than protect women’s health and safety. These state-level abortion restrictions have become more common in the last several years – with lawmakers arguing that these laws are…
Abortion Knowledge and Attitudes: KFF Polling and Policy Insights January 22, 2020 Poll Finding This poll examines the public’s knowledge and attitudes about abortion. This poll finds a majority of the public do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, and think recent state-level abortion restrictions are designed to make abortion access more difficult, rather than protect women’s health and safety.
Medicaid: What to Watch in 2020 January 17, 2020 Issue Brief Medicaid, the provider of health insurance coverage for about one in five Americans and the largest payer for long-term care services in the community and nursing homes, continues to be a key part of health policy debates at the federal and state level. Key Medicaid issues to watch in 2020 include: Medicaid expansion developments; Section 1115 waiver activity; enrollment and spending trends; benefits, payment and delivery system reforms, and the implications of the 2020 elections.
Long-Term Care Facility Costs Are the Largest Share of Annual Out-of-Pocket Spending by Medicare Beneficiaries January 17, 2020 Slide Long term care facility costs are the largest share of annual out of pocket spending by Medicare beneficiaries — representing 32% of their spending on services annually.
The ACA is Doing Fine Without a Mandate Penalty January 14, 2020 Perspective In an Axios column, Drew Altman explains that the elimination of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty has had little impact on how the ACA’s insurance markets are working, showing that “the marketplaces continue to function, even when ‘severed’ from the mandate penalty,” and undercutting a central argument in the lawsuit seeking to strike down the entire law.