Preview

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

COVID-19

Health Care Priorities For A COVID-19 Stimulus Bill: Recommendations To The Administration, Congress, And Other Federal, State, And Local Leaders From Public Health, Medical, Policy, And Legal Experts
By Howard P. Forman, Elizabeth Fowler, Megan L. Ranney, Ruth J. Katz, Sara Rosenbaum, Kavita Patel, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, Abbe R. Gluck, Christen Linke Young, Erica Turret, Suhas Gondi, Adam Beckman (3/12/20)

As experts in public health, medicine, policy, and law, and with prior expertise in developing federal health legislation and public health initiatives, we hereby present a framework designed to protect the health of all Americans in the face of this unprecedented epidemic. Read More >>

COVID-19: A Stress Test For A US Health Care System Already Under Stress
By Mahshid Abir, Christina Cutter, and Christopher Nelson (3/11/20)

Cross-sector collaboration will be essential to best prepare for the stress test that COVID-19 could pose to America’s emergency preparedness response and health care systems.
Read More >>

Mapping Misinformation In The Coronavirus Outbreak
By Ana Santos Rutschman (3/10/20)

In this post, the author surveys some of the most pervasive areas of tentacular coronavirus-related misinformation that has proliferated online—as well as the responses of social media companies like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok, which may ultimately prove inadequate given the magnitude of the problem. Read More >>

Could—Or Should—The Government Impose A Mass Quarantine On An American City?
By Lawrence O. Gostin (3/10/20)

I can imagine most Americans abiding by their part of the social bargain by sheltering in place. But will government uphold its part? As of now, we have no plan, no protocol, and few resources. Read More >>

What COVID-19 Means For America’s Incarcerated Population—And How To Ensure It’s Not Left Behind
By Oluwadamilola T. Oladeru, Adam Beckman, and Gregg Gonsalves (3/10/20)

We must remember the millions of incarcerated people who cannot plan for themselves yet remain inextricably tied to the core of our public health system. Read More >>

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The following Health Affairs Blog posts are part of a short series, "The ACA at 10: Health Care Revolution," published with support from the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School and the Healthcare Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy.

The Affordable Care Act Made Health Care (Slightly) More Affordable
By Carrie Colla and Jonathan Skinner (3/13/20)

In this post, we draw heavily on our recent contribution to a forthcoming volume, "The Trillion Dollar Experiment," to estimate the health care cost savings from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) over the past decade, and then examine the lessons of the ACA to better understand effective approaches for slowing the growth of health care spending. Read More >>

Evaluating The ACA’s Delivery System Reforms
By Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Amol S. Navathe, and Cathy Zhang (3/13/20)

The Affordable Care Act included a number of types of delivery system reforms (DSRs), such as changing payments to health care providers and requiring greater reporting of quality and cost performance to the public. Most DSRs targeted uncoordinated or inefficient care under the traditional fee-for-service system. None of the programs has been a clear home run, but many have made major steps in the right direction. Read More >>

CONSIDERING HEALTH SPENDING

Prices Are Not "Reimbursements"
By Shivani A. Shah and Michael E. Chernew (3/13/20)

We should set prices (and methods of payment) to balance access and quality goals with budgetary concerns. Read More >>

HEALTH REFORM

Congressman Fortney Hillman "Pete" Stark: Remembering A Health Policy Giant
By Cybele Bjorklund (3/9/20)

His work has had profound effects on the US health care system and provided critically important protections and assistance to virtually all Americans and others residing here.
Read More >>

MEDICARE

The Part D Senior Savings Model: Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs For Insulin In Medicare Part D
By Seema Verma (3/11/20)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) strongly encourages sponsors of enhanced Part D plans and manufacturers of insulin to participate in the Part D Senior Savings Model. The Part D Senior Savings Model could lower beneficiary out-of-pocket costs next year while allowing CMS to assess the impact of this change on overall medical spending and health outcomes. Read More >>

Medicare For All: If Not Now, When?
By Adam Gaffney (3/9/20)

Above all, we can be sure of one thing: not bothering to push for Medicare for All today will guarantee that it doesn’t happen tomorrow. Read More >>

PHARMACEUTICALS AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Quality: The Often Overlooked Critical Element For Assuring Access To Safe And Effective Drugs
By Janet Woodcock and Michael Kopcha (3/13/20)

Part of our preparation includes addressing key technical and regulatory issues ahead of time so as not to hinder promising technologies; we want to make sure the technologies are not only adopted but that they deliver on the promise of a higher level of manufacturing quality in the pharmaceutical industry.
Read More >>

Antibiotic Resistance And Animal Consumption: The Case For Duration Limits In Food-Producing Animals
By Karin Hoelzer (3/12/20)

Following a troubling return to rising antibiotic sales, it’s time for the Food and Drug Administration to ensure judicious use of these drugs. Read More >>

PUBLIC HEALTH

Energizing Public Policy Regarding Selected Dietary Supplements: The Case For Education And Restriction
By Arnold R. Eiser, Anita Ho, and Simon Outram (3/10/20)

Protecting the public health, especially that of American youth, from those products most likely to do harm requires an understanding of the gaps in supervision of the supplement industry and new public health measures to minimize those gaps. Read More >>

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Contingency Management: A Highly Effective Treatment For Substance Use Disorders And The Legal Barriers That Stand In Its Way
By Joseph E. Glass, Edward V. Nunes, and Katharine A. Bradley (3/11/20)

An urgent exception needs to be made to recognize that when used to promote important therapeutic behaviors such as adherence to effective medication or objective evidence of abstinence from drugs, incentives offered as part of contingency management are part of an effective treatment, not an inducement. Read More >>

HEALTH PHILANTHROPY

People Post: Foundation Staff And Board Members’ Arrivals And Departures; Job Opening
By Lee-Lee Prina (3/11/20)

Read about staff and board changes at foundations around the United States. And a program officer position is open. Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

EYE ON HEALTH REFORM

The ACA At The Supreme Court And Beyond
By Katie Keith

Katie Keith provides an update on Texas v. United States, a case concerning the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was originally filed by twenty Republican state attorneys general and others after Congress eliminated the individual mandate penalty in late 2017. Keith reports that after the case wound its way through district and circuit courts, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider the case in its next term. Keith also reviews the status of the two other ACA-related appeals before the Supreme Court in its current term. Read More >>

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The ACA And The Courts: Litigation’s Effects On The Law’s Implementation And Beyond
By Timothy Stoltzfus Jost and Katie Keith

The Affordable Care Act’s legacy extends beyond its provision of health insurance to millions of previously uninsured people and its improved consumer protections. It has also had a significant impact on the US legal system. Litigation over the law began on the day of its enactment and has been a constant in the decade since. Read More >>

DataGraphic

We bring this month’s content together in a DataGraphic with a timeline of major events in the ACA’s ten-year history combined with key findings from the research. Read More >>

How The ACA Dented The Cost Curve
By Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin and John A. Graves

Health spending growth has been low by historical standards since the Affordable Care Act’s enactment, but is that due to the law? Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin and John Graves note that specific provisions can be shown to have affected the cost trajectory, even as the overall effect on health spending is “nearly impossible” to discern. Read More >>

Transforming Medicare’s Payment Systems: Progress Shaped By The ACA
By Michael E. Chernew, Patrick H. Conway, and Austin B. Frakt

Michael Chernew and colleagues view the Affordable Care Act’s payment reforms as “modestly successful” in achieving savings while sustaining or improving the quality of care.
Read More >>

A Ten-Year Engagement: The Media And The ACA
By Julie Rovner

Julie Rovner discusses the challenges of covering the complex policies and politics of the Affordable Care Act. Read More >>

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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