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Proposals to generate Medicare savings abound, from the various commissions recommending change, members of Congress and others. Which proposals will, or should receive serious considerations by the Congressional super committee in its quest to find $1.
Safety-net hospitals are an integral part of the U.S. health care landscape, providing care to some of the nation’s most medically vulnerable populations, including Medicaid enrollees and the uninsured. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. health care system is rapidly changing, and safety-net hospitals need to make major adjustments to survive in the post-reform environment. This brief draws on interviews with executives at nine safety-net hospital systems and examines how their hospitals have fared since major coverage provisions of the ACA came into effect in January 2014. The brief also examines new and ongoing strategies that the hospitals are adopting in the face of a quickly changing health care environment. While acknowledging the importance of the ACA, executives at each system in the study noted that other non-ACA related factors have also shaped how their hospitals fared over the last year. The hospitals in the study were: Cook County Health and Hospital System (CCHHS); Denver Health (Denver Health); Harris Health System (Harris Health); New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC); Parkland Health and Hospital System (Parkland); Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System (SCVHHS); San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH); University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC), and Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCU). These hospitals participated in two earlier related studies that examined how the systems were preparing for health care reform.
This fact sheet provides an overview of the population health, health coverage, and health care delivery in Utah in the era of health reform.
A new animated video features the YouToons as they get ready for Obamacare and explore health insurance changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The cartoon serves as a health reform tutorial for consumers and organizations.
This short Kaiser Family Foundation documentary profiles the experiences of three Medicare families trying to pay for their health care costs with other household spending. The families are among 16 featured in a companion report examining the role Medicare now plays in the lives of beneficiaries and the challenges many face in paying for their health care and other living expenses on a fixed budget.
This fact sheet provides an overview of population health, health coverage, and health care delivery in Ohio under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
This fact sheet provides an overview of population health, health coverage, and health care delivery in Washington under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
A number of states have expressed interest in expanding managed care approaches within their Medicaid programs. While managed care may present an opportunity for better delivery of care, it presents challenges within certain populations and geographic areas.
This study, published in the journal Health Affairs, examines how five leading safety-net hospitals are preparing for major changes expected to result from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including less government support for uncompensated care and the need to compete for newly insured people.
Medicaid covers nearly 60 million Americans. Because the population covered by the program is low-income, federal law limits the extent to which states can charge premiums and cost-sharing amounts, particularly for pregnant women, children and adults with incomes below poverty.
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