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The

Commonwealth

Fund Connection

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


March 10, 2020

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Coronavirus


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The Coronavirus Demonstrates Why Our Health System Cannot Leave Anyone Out

The precariousness of the U.S. health care system has been laid bare by the spread of the coronavirus, say the Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins and David Blumenthal, M.D., in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. Noting that insurance markets and health systems work best when everyone is included, the authors says the coronavirus, whether it becomes a full-blown pandemic or not, demonstrates that our health system cannot leave anyone out.

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Coronavirus Reveals Flaws in the U.S. Health System

On The Dose podcast, the Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins and David Blumenthal, M.D., discuss how the coronavirus epidemic is revealing flaws in U.S. health care. They say gaps in the health system are placing the entire population at risk.

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Medicaid Can Help Us Respond to Coronavirus

Medicaid’s built-in flexibility can aid the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak, says George Washington University’s Sara Rosenbaum on To the Point. In addition to the program’s capacity to streamline the enrollment process, sign up people whenever needed, and make eligibility retroactive, she notes that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has the authority to modify provisions of federal Medicaid law to fund states’ efforts to slow the spread of the virus.

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TOP TWEET


On the latest episode of #TheDosePodcast, learn how gaps in our health system put the entire population at risk in the coronavirus outbreak.


@Commonwealthfnd
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Access and Coverage


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New Poll: Three in 10 Likely Voters Worry About Affording Health Insurance, Prescription Drugs

Three in 10 U.S. adults who say they’re likely to vote in the 2020 presidential election are very or moderately worried about being able to afford their health insurance and out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs over the next year, according to the first in a new series of NBC News/Commonwealth Fund polls tracking attitudes of likely voters on top health care issues this election season.

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The ACA at 10 Years

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) turns 10 years old this month. How effective has the law been, what are its shortfalls, and what is its future? Commonwealth Fund experts and grantees weigh in in this month’s issue of Health Affairs and a special series in the New England Journal of Medicine:
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An examination of
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federal options for building on the ACA to make health insurance more affordable for the middle class.
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An assessment of the impact of the
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ACA’s federal subsidies and individual insurance market reforms .
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A review of the
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ACA’s health care payment and delivery reforms , including efforts to reduce hospital readmissions and promote accountable care.
- A literature review on whether the ACA’s
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coverage expansion and insurance market reforms have reduced financial barriers to care and protected people from financial risks when they get sick.

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Supreme Court Will Decide the ACA’s Fate

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal regarding the future of the ACA. Twenty-one state attorneys general, led by California, will argue that the law should remain in place; Texas and others are asking that it be overturned. Health law expert Timothy Jost writes that while the nation awaits the decision, the health care coverage of millions of Americans hangs in the balance.

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What Super Tuesday Results Mean for Health Care Reform

The Super Tuesday primary election results suggest Americans favor incremental, rather than sweeping, changes to our health care system, writes the Commonwealth Fund’s Eric Schneider, M.D., in Stat News. “[T]hose who favor giant steps may find they are swimming upstream against an American public that is unsettled by the cost of care but reluctant to gamble on losing today’s health care system.”

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Delivery System Reform


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The Dose: Getting to Zero HIV Infections in San Francisco

More than 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV today. On The Dose podcast, San Francisco public health officials Grant Colfax and Susan Buchbinder talk about how their efforts to increase uptake of preventive medicine and treat hard-to-reach patients at mobile clinics are helping to move the city toward its goal of eliminating new HIV infections.

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Project ECHO Built Capacity to Care for High-Cost Patients

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analysis by researchers at the University of New Mexico and Boston Medical Center found that Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes), a national telehealth model that offers remote support to teams providing intensive case management to high-need Medicaid beneficiaries, significantly reduces emergency department and hospital use and increases use of outpatient care. Read our case study to learn how care teams in rural locations across New Mexico leverage this support to care for people with addiction, mental health, and physical health problems.

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How the ACA Has Affected Medical Practice

In the new book, The Trillion Dollar Revolution: How the Affordable Care Act Transformed Politics, Law, and Health Care in America, edited by Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Abbe R. Gluck, Commonwealth Fund experts assess how public policies like the ACA — as well as forces beyond policy — currently affect medical practice and how they are likely to do so in the future.

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Medicare and Medicaid


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Medicaid Block Grant Option Not a Good Deal for States

The Trump administration recently released guidance allowing states to fundamentally restructure a significant portion of their Medicaid programs: In exchange for agreeing to a cap on federal funding, states can face fewer rules and less government oversight. But Manatt Health’s Cindy Mann and colleagues find that the demonstration program may result in significantly less federal funding and greater financial risks for states that opt in.

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International Health Policy


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Does the U.S. Allocate Its Social Spending Dollars Wisely?

Spending on housing, nutrition, education, and other social services per person is about the same in the United States as in other high-income countries. But the way the U.S. allocates those dollars is different, and it may be limiting their impact, say the Commonwealth Fund’s Roosa Tikkanen and Eric Schneider, M.D., in the New England Journal of Medicine. Providing far less support to young children and working-age people than to older adults may contribute to the nation’s worse health outcomes.

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Controlling Costs


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Resolving Payment Disputes Between Insurers and Providers

On To the Point, Georgetown University health policy experts explore two strategies for resolving payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers that result in surprise medical bills for patients. Read how seven states have adopted a
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payment standard for out-of-network bills based on different data sources, and how
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independent dispute resolution between insurers and the out-of-network providers can work in practice.







Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

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