Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — April 2012 April 1, 2012 Poll Finding The April poll gauged Americans’ opinions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of the Supreme Court oral arguments in the legal challenges to the health reform law in March. The increased public attention to the Affordable Care Act generated by the Supreme Court’s consideration of the law…
Articles Examine Data and Issues For Expanding Integrated Care Models For Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries June 1, 2012 Report As state and federal policymakers move to develop and test integrated care models for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, two new Kaiser Family Foundation articles in the June 2012 issue of Health Affairs highlight the diverse needs and challenges facing these 9 million beneficiaries, describe their current care…
Health Insurance Market Reforms: Guaranteed Issue June 2, 2012 Fact Sheet Guaranteed issue laws require insurance companies to issue a health plan to any applicant – an individual or a group – regardless of the applicant’s health status or other factors. Currently, in most states, insurance companies can deny nongroup coverage to people based on their health status or their medical…
Medicaid Managed Long-Term Services and Supports: Are More Caution and Oversight Needed? August 3, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and AARP sponsor an August 3rd briefing to discuss who is being served by Medicaid managed care, how enrollment is determined, and whether sufficient oversight of the programs exist. Speakers will explore such questions as: Does Medicaid managed care cover a full range of long-term…
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: August 2012 August 31, 2012 Poll Finding This poll, conducted as the GOP prepares for its national convention, finds that the Affordable Care Act is not the top health care priority among Republicans. While jobs are still the number one issue for Republicans, when asked about the health care issues that will impact their vote this fall,…
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: September 2012 September 1, 2012 Poll Finding The September poll finds with the November election fast-approaching, Medicare trails only the economy and the federal budget deficit as key priorities for voters, and interest in the federal health program is even higher among seniors. More than a third (36%) of Americans say Medicare is “extremely” important to their…
Explaining the State Integrated Care and Financial Alignment Demonstrations for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries September 30, 2012 Issue Brief This paper provides an overview of the joint efforts of states and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop more integrated ways of paying for and delivering health care to the 9 million people who are eligible for both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Dual eligible beneficiaries…
State Demonstrations to Integrate Care and Align Financing for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries: A Review of the 26 Proposals Submitted to CMS September 30, 2012 Report The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed two models to align Medicare and Medicaid benefits and financing for dual eligible beneficiaries, one capitated model and one managed fee-for-service model. In the spring of 2012, 26 states submitted proposals to CMS seeking to test one or both of…
Health Insurance Market Reforms: Rate Review December 11, 2012 Fact Sheet Rate review is the process by which insurance regulators review health plans’ new or renewed rates for insurance policies in order to ensure that the rates charged are based on accurate, verifiable data and realistic projections of health costs. Historically, state insurance departments have conducted rate review, but under the…
Increasing Medicaid Payments for Certain Primary Care Physicians in 2013 and 2014: A Primer on the Health Reform Provision and Final Rule December 13, 2012 Issue Brief To help ensure that access in Medicaid expands to meet anticipated higher demand for care, the health reform law requires states to pay certain physicians Medicaid fees that are at least equal to Medicare’s for a list of 146 primary care services in 2013 and 2014. The idea is to…