Health Costs

In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ broad new responsibilities implementing the Affordable Care Act and a more proactive approach to Medicare payment signals that it’s time for (another) name change.

Using data from a new Kaiser Family Foundation panel survey following the uninsured in California who gained coverage since 2010, Drew Altman’s latest column in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank shows how expanding health coverage and improving economic security for working Americans are connected even though they are often part…

In this column in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman shows how expanding health coverage and improving economic security for working Americans are connected even though they are often part of separate policy debates.

In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explains that just as we should not have expected historically low rates of health spending increases to continue, we should not dramatize a return to higher rates in coming years. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available.  

In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explains that just as we should not have expected historically low rates of health spending increases to continue, we should not dramatize a return to higher rates in coming years.

A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans in major metropolitan areas in 11 states where data are available, including the District of Columbia, finds that preliminary 2016 premiums for benchmark silver plans grew modestly, but increased more sharply this year than last year. The average increase for benchmark plans across the cities is 4.4 percent for 2016 compared with a 2 percent increase nationwide in 2015.

This analysis provides an early look at premium changes for individuals in the health insurance marketplaces, created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in major cities in 10 states plus DC. Premium changes for the benchmark silver plans vary significantly across the sample cities. The benchmark rates will increase 4.4 percent on average in 2016 without accounting for tax credits, a relatively modest amount but greater than the average increase for 2015.

If Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell Decision Restricts Insurance Subsidies to Certain States, Most Say Congress Should Act to Ensure Residents of All States are Eligible, and a Majority in Potentially Affected States say Their State Should Act Public’s Views on Affordable Care Act Are Divided and Unchanged: 42% Unfavorable…

Given recent news about some high-cost prescription drugs and the debate about who should pay for them, this month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll has a special focus on the issue. Nearly three-quarters of the public think that the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable. Americans place much of the blame with the drug companies saying they set prices too high and that company profits are a major factor in drug pricing. The poll also finds that most of the public still hasn’t heard much about the Supreme Court case on whether people in states with federal marketplaces are eligible for financial assistance to purchase health insurance. Most feel that Congress and states should act if the Court rules for the plaintiffs, but there is no agreement among partisans.