Chartpack: Massachusetts Health Reform Tracking Survey June 1, 2007 Poll Finding This chartpack highlights key results from the June 2007 Kaiser/Harvard/BCBSMA Foundation poll of Massachusetts residents on the new health reform law. Chartpack (.pdf)
Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health Plans May 31, 2007 Report Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health PlansThis report compares out-of-pocket costs of maternity care under 12 consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) from the group and individual markets to a traditional health insurance plan. CDHPs typically have lower premiums but higher deductible levels than traditional health plans, shifting more of the financial responsibility…
Maternity Care and Consumer Driven Health Plans May 31, 2007 Event Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health Plans With maternity care representing one of the most common and costly medical interventions that women experience, Kaiser and the March of Dimes co-hosted a forum to release new studies that analyze the costs of maternity care and assess coverage under consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs).…
Health Affairs Article: From ‘Soak The Rich’ To ‘Soak The Poor: Recent Trends In Hospital Pricing April 29, 2007 Report Health Affairs Article: From 'Soak The Rich' To 'Soak The Poor': Recent Trends In Hospital PricingThe May-June 2007 issue of Health Affairs features a Foundation-supported study on recent trends in hospital pricing, including comparisons of rates charged to self-pay patients versus those with insurance coverage. The article also examies three…
Snapshots: How Changes in Medical Technology Affect Health Care Costs March 2, 2007 Issue Brief Health expenditures continue to grow very rapidly in the U.S. Since 1970, health care spending has grown at an average annual rate of 9.8%, or about 2.5 percentage points faster than the economy as measured by the nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Annual spending on health care increased from $75…
Medicare Consumer-Directed Health Plan: Medicare MSAs and HSA-like Plans in 2007 February 28, 2007 Issue Brief Medicare Consumer-Directed Health Plan: Medicare MSAs and HSA-like Plans in 2007This March 2007 issue brief, commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation, examines the development of consumer-directed health plans in the Medicare program. Medicare Medical Savings Account plans have high deductibles accompanied by a personal savings account that can be used…
Health Affairs Article: Impact of State Tort Reforms on Physician Malpractice Payments February 27, 2007 Issue Brief A study in the March/April 2007 issue of Health Affairs analyzes the impact of state tort reforms on physician malpractice claims. The study finds that the tort law changes have had a measurable but limited impact on physician malpractice claims, depending on the type and strength of the tort reform. Commissioned by…
Snapshots: Effect of Tying Eligibility for Health Insurance Subsidies to the Federal Poverty Level February 12, 2007 Issue Brief Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the rapid growth of health insurance premiums and its impact on coverage affordability. Premium growth has far outpaced growth in workers earnings, which means that workers have to spend more of their income each year on health care to maintain current…
Snapshots: Insurance Premium Cost-Sharing and Coverage Take-up January 24, 2007 Issue Brief One of the many reasons an individual may be uninsured is that she or he decides an employer’s offer of health insurance is too expensive. Several studies have noted the likelihood that a worker will decline an employer’s offer of health insurance increases with the amount he or she is…
Health Care: Squeezing The Middle Class With More Costs and Less Coverage January 2, 2007 Event Health Care: Squeezing The Middle Class With More Costs and Less CoverageDiane Rowland, executive vice president of the Foundation and executive director of the Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means about the economic challenges of rising health care costs…