By JoAnn Volk, Rachel Schwab and Dania Palanker Health care is on people’s minds as the general election approaches. It has historically been a top issue of interest for women voters. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded women’s access to comprehensive coverage, but the Trump administration is seeking to overturn the law in a case before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile,…
With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes renewed concerns about the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The latest attempt to bring down the ACA, California v. Texas, comes before the Supreme Court one week after the presidential election. This ongoing litigation, led by the Texas Attorney General and joined by the Trump administration, relies…
By Joan Alker, Georgetown University Center for Children & Families* Since the American Community Survey became available in 2008, we have been using this data to track state and national trends in children’s health coverage. This year is the tenth time I have co-authored this report and the news is the worst yet – by a long shot. As regular…
…in the uninsured rate between white adults and both Black and Hispanic adults. Compared to Medicare rates, commercial insurers paid more for inpatient hospital care in every state, and higher employer coverage premiums were associated with higher commercial prices paid for health care services. Why it Matters As of September 2020, an estimated 35 million people in the U.S. are…
…state has made progress in assessing compliance for financial requirements and quantitative treatment limits. However, achieving parity for non-quantitative treatment limits continues to be the dominant challenge in MHPAEA compliance. Stakeholders identified utilization management, medical necessity criteria, and network adequacy as areas where compliance with non-quantitative treatment limits often falls short and impedes access to needed services. Stakeholders representing providers…
…that could overturn the ACA, and rising uninsured rates are insurers flocking back to the individual marketplace? A Sicker-than-expected Risk Pool, Policy Uncertainty Drove Insurer Exits in 2017 By 2017, many insurers had experienced significant losses in the individual market. Nationwide, insurers selling in the individual market lost $2.5 billion in 2014 alone. The following year was little better. Competitive…
…plan. Promised for months, it was finally released on September 24, 2020. The nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barret to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court has completely changed the odds for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) future. With Justice Ginsburg on the court, it was hard to imagine a majority approving the plaintiffs’ specious argument…
…actions are taking place in spite of the $175 billion for providers in federal COVID-19 relief funds, at least some of which is supposed to compensate them for treating uninsured COVID-19 patients. Even before the pandemic, aggressive practices to recover medical debt, including placing liens on patients’ homes and garnishing wages, have stunted the financial vitality of families and even…
…receive assistance, which the authors indicate may be due to immigration concerns or language barriers. Consumers receiving assistance cited a variety of reasons for seeking help with applying for or renewing coverage, including confusion over coverage options (62 percent of those seeking), finding the application process too complex to complete alone (52 percent), issues navigating the marketplace website (18 percent),…
…employer coverage. Employer plans are often touted as the “gold standard” in health insurance. But a recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund found that 26 percent of people with employer coverage were underinsured, while 18 percent of full-time workers and 26 percent of part-time workers were uninsured for at least part of the last year. The Access Problem Many workers…
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