The Connection

A roundup of recent Fund publications, charts, multimedia, and other timely content.

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September 19, 2023

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How States Are Protecting Consumers from Medical Debt

Disproportionately affecting women, people of color, and families with low income, medical debt disrupts lives and leads many to forgo needed care. While many states have acted to fill gaps in what are generally lax federal standards, additional steps are likely needed, Georgetown University researchers find in a new study. These include measures to improve patients’ access to financial assistance, ensure that nonprofit hospitals earn their tax exemptions, and protect people against aggressive billing and collections practices.

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Medicare Outlines Process for Drug Price Negotiations

The Inflation Reduction Act gives Medicare the authority to negotiate prices for certain high-cost prescription drugs. To provide a roadmap for the negotiation process and to encourage drug manufacturers to participate, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued guidance for how companies can engage in fair and, hopefully, successful negotiations. Experts at Waxman Strategies discuss the possible paths these negotiations could take on To the Point.

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FEATURED CHART

Deceptive Marketing by Medicare Private Plans

Older adults with low income are more likely than those with higher income to experience fraudulent or deceptive advertising by health plan marketers during Medicare open enrollment, a Commonwealth Fund survey finds. And many beneficiaries said they didn’t know how to file a complaint about suspicious practices. About one of 10 older adults said they had enrolled in a plan believing their doctor was covered, only to discover there were limitations on seeing that doctor or the doctor wasn’t in the plan network.

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Variable Language Access in State-Based Marketplaces

Federal regulations require the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces to provide free and timely language access services to people with limited English proficiency. But in analyzing data collection and language services across 21 state marketplaces, Georgetown University researchers found that the availability and quality of services they offer vary greatly. They note that fewer than half have marketplace-specific written language access plans and that access to written translations varies substantially, as does their quality.

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Helping Americans in the Medicaid Coverage Gap

By making more Americans eligible for Medicaid, the ACA has substantially improved insurance coverage and access to care for many people who otherwise would have fallen into the “coverage gap”— those with incomes too high to qualify for the insurance program in their states and too low to enroll in subsidized marketplace plans. Yet a number of states have not taken up Medicaid expansion. According to New York University’s Sherry Glied and Mark Weiss, if Tennessee, a state that hasn’t expanded eligibility for the program, had done so, more than 16,300 additional residents would have gotten health coverage and 7,500 would have had a routine checkup in 2019.

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Responding to Clinician Burnout and Moral Injury

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials announced a new initiative to reduce widespread burnout and moral injury ([link removed] ) in the public health workforce through coaching and peer learning. A recent Transforming Care feature explored the causes of this crisis and identified ways in which leaders have begun to respond ([link removed] ) .

Apply Now to Yale’s Health Equity Leadership Program

The application for the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership ([link removed] ) at Yale University is now open. This 22-month, degree-granting program covers the cost of the Yale MBA for Executives program ([link removed] ) and gives health care professionals the leadership skills and the deep understanding of teams, markets, and organizations necessary to tackle major inequities in the U.S. health system. Learn more about the current cohort of fellows here ([link removed] ) . The round 1 application deadline is October 31, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact the team at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

Webinar: Navigating the Medicare Coverage Maze

As Medicare open enrollment begins next month, millions of Americans will once again be assessing their coverage options. With so many choices and marketing messages, how do consumers make these decisions? Join the Commonwealth Fund, AARP, and leading experts on Friday, September 22, at 12:00 p.m. ET for a virtual discussion of the challenges that people face navigating Medicare coverage choices — and the policy opportunities that could improve the process.

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Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

The Commonwealth Fund, 1 East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021

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