Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues
Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the rapid growth of health insurance premiums and its impact on coverage affordability. Premium growth has far outpaced growth in workers earnings, which means that workers have to spend more of their income each year on health care to maintain current…
Data from the insurance industry and reviews of premiums offered through on-line sellers show that premiums for nongroup health insurance are lower than premiums reported on national surveys for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI). This paper uses pooled data from the 2004 through 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to compare the…
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.
This report presents findings from an analysis of the Medicare Part D marketplace in 2013 and changes in drug coverage and costs since 2006. It presents key findings related to Medicare drug plan availability, enrollment, premiums, low-income subsidies, the coverage gap, benefit design, cost sharing, formularies, and utilization management, based on data from CMS for all plans participating in Part D. The analysis was conducted jointly by researchers at Georgetown University, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
A current strategy for addressing the cost of health insurance involves consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs). These plans generally are less expensive than more traditional health plan designs, but it is not clear whether the lower costs derive entirely from the new benefit structure or whether some of the savings result…
EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION: The Answer to America’s Unplanned Pregnancy Problem? March, 1995 OVERVIEW For approximately 20 years, emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), high-dose oral contraceptivesalso referred to as “morning-after pills,” have been known to prevent pregnancy after unprotectedsex and available in the United States. Findings from a new Kaiser Family Foundation/LouisHarris and…
How much people should pay out-of-pocket for health care is a much-debated issue in health policy. New health insurance products with higher out-of-pocket shares are becoming more evident in the private market, and some states are considering ways to increase enrollee financial responsibility in state Medicaid programs. This paper presents…