JAMA Forum: Hard Questions on Health Care October 16, 2012 Perspective “Hard Questions on Health Care,” Larry Levitt’s October 2012 post on The JAMA Forum, is now available online.
How Small Business Owners Get Health Insurance September 28, 2012 Perspective As with any economic policy issue, there has been much discussion of how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will affect small businesses. But, there’s been very little focus on how the health reform law will affect the owners of those businesses as people. As our recently released Employer Health Benefits…
Pulling it Together: How the ACA Can Help The Homeless September 21, 2012 Perspective Estimates are that there are approximately 630,000 people who are homeless on any given night in the U.S. — about two-thirds in shelters and one-third on the street or without real shelter. Several million people are estimated to experience homelessness over the course of a year. About two-thirds are individuals and the…
How the ACA Changes Pathways to Insurance Coverage for People with HIV September 18, 2012 Perspective There are multiple sources of insurance coverage and care for people with HIV in the United States. These include public programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, as well as private coverage through an employer or in the individual market. Medicaid, the nation’s principal safety-net…
JAMA Forum: What Is Health Care Cost Containment? September 6, 2012 Perspective “What Is Health Care Cost Containment?” Larry Levitt’s September 2012 contribution to The JAMA Forum, is now available online.
Pulling it Together: Reflections on This Year’s Four Percent Premium Increase September 5, 2012 Perspective Our 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey found a 4% increase in premiums this year, continuing the recent trend of moderation in health costs and spending reported in several studies. Double digit increases in premiums were once a common occurrence, but we have not seen any since a 10% increase in…
August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: A Look At The GOP As The Republican Convention Draws Near August 16, 2012 Perspective Despite the ongoing focus on Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that the ACA is not the top health care priority among Republicans. While jobs are still the number one issue, when asked about the health care issues that will impact…
Transparency and Complexity August 13, 2012 Perspective This fall a new rule takes effect requiring all private health plans to offer a uniform, simple to read, summary of benefits and coverage (SBC). The SBC will provide consumers with standardized information about how plans cover essential health benefits and what coverage limits and cost sharing applies. The SBC…
JAMA Forum: The Middle Class Tax Break Hardly Anyone Is Talking About August 2, 2012 Perspective “The Middle Class Tax Break Hardly Anyone Is Talking About,” Larry Levitt’s August 2012 post for The JAMA Forum, is now available online.
July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: A Focus On The Mandate and the Medicaid Expansion in the Aftermath of the Supreme Court Decision July 31, 2012 Perspective This second July poll reports in further depth on public opinion about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court’s decision that the individual mandate was constitutional as a tax appears to have had little impact on opinion about the already largely…
