Survey of Health Insurance Agents: Assessing Trends in the Individual and Small Group Insurance Markets June 1, 2012 Poll Finding This nationally representative survey of 500 health insurance agents and brokers working in the individual and small group markets explores their outlook on market trends and views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The survey finds that many agents are seeing steep increases in premiums and deductibles for individuals and…
Pulling it Together: Duals: The National Health Reform Experiment We Should Be talking More About June 1, 2012 Perspective The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and 26 states are moving to launch a large scale managed care demonstration project potentially involving millions of the poorest, sickest, most expensive Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the so-called dual eligibles. The experiment is getting more and more attention from policy experts,…
Medicaid Enrollment: June 2011 Data Snapshot June 1, 2012 Issue Brief This snapshot finds that between June 2010 and June 2011, while enrollment continued to grow as an additional 2.2 million people enrolled in Medicaid programs nationally, enrollment growth in the program slowed as the economy started to improve. Enrollment growth over this period was 4.4 percent, down significantly each of…
Medicare Advantage 2012 Data Spotlight: Enrollment Market Update May 31, 2012 Report This data spotlight examines the growth in private Medicare Advantage plan enrollment in 2012, with a record 13 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled as of March, representing 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries. Enrollment jumped by more than 1 million enrollees from the previous year and increased in every state except…
Medicare Advantage 2012 Data Spotlights May 31, 2012 Report The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a series of data spotlights and examining the Medicare Advantage plan options available in 2012 and trends affecting the Medicare Advantage marketplace. These analyses were prepared by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research Inc. and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Plan Availability and Premiums Enrollment Market…
May Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Four in Ten Say Children and Young Adults Will Be Better Off May 31, 2012 Perspective While supporters and opponents of the Affordable Care Act wait for the Supreme Court to announce their decision, support for the law dipped slightly in May, with unfavorable views now outnumbering favorable ones (44 percent versus 37 percent). As in previous months, the public remains divided on whether the law…
How is the Affordable Care Act Leading to Changes in Medicaid Today? State Responses to Five New Options May 30, 2012 Issue Brief This policy brief examines how states in every region have responded to five key opportunities available under the health reform law to help them prepare for the significant expansion of Medicaid in 2014. The options covered in the brief include incentives for states to get an early start on the…
Cost and Access Challenges: A Comparison of Experiences Between Uninsured and Privately Insured Adults Aged 55 to 64 with Seniors on Medicare May 30, 2012 Report This analysis looks at the difficulties uninsured people ages 55-64 have accessing and affording health care in 2010. Four in 10 of these near-seniors report having unmet health care needs or delaying treatment, while three in 10 uninsured near-seniors lived in families reporting problems paying their medical bills largely due…
The Part D Experience: What are the Lessons for Broader Medicare Reform? May 30, 2012 Event Launched in 2006, Medicare added a prescription drug benefit that relies entirely on private plans, while, for other benefits, beneficiaries have a choice between private health plans and traditional fee-for-service Medicare. As policymakers consider changes to Medicare that would give an even greater role to private health plans in caring…
Health Care Costs: The Role of Technology and Chronic Conditions May 29, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and co-sponsors presented the second event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up, and what (if anything) can be done about them. This briefing takes an in-depth look at two of the most often cited cost drivers – technology…