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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**October 18, 2020**

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FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT

COVID-19

COVID-19 Emergency Sick Leave Has Helped Flatten The Curve In The United
States

By Stefan Pichler, Katherine Wen, and Nicolas R. Ziebarth

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, enacted on March 18, 2020,
contains two weeks of COVID-19-related emergency sick leave coverage
at full pay (up to a cap). Stefan Pichler and coauthors test whether
this provision reduced the spread of COVID-19.
Read More >>

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IN THE JOURNAL

LEADING TO HEALTH: CHILDREN'S HEALTH

A Statewide Approach To Improving Child Health And Health Care

By Rebecca Gale

A dynamic network aims to help Vermont's pediatric practices navigate
an evolving quality improvement landscape. Read More >>

This article appears in Health Affairs' series Leading To Health
.

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New podcast!
Editor-in-Chief
Alan Weil interviews journalist Rebecca Gale, author of today's featured
article, to discuss her reporting on the Vermont Child Health
Improvement Program (VCHIP), a pediatric program run by the University
of Vermont to help pediatric providers, payers, and policy makers
negotiate the complex health care ecosystem.

Listen here.

CHILDREN'S HEALTH

Measuring Equity From The Start: Disparities In The Health Development
Of US Kindergartners

By Neal Halfon, Efren Aguilar, Lisa Stanley, Emily Hotez, Eryn Block,
and Magdalena Janus

Neal Halfon and coauthors report on the health development of
kindergartners as recorded by data collected by their teachers. The
percentage of children with vulnerability grows linearly with declining
neighborhood income, with models showing that "racial/ethnic groups
differ substantially in levels of vulnerability, even when income is
controlled for."
Read More >>

Childhood Origins Of Intergenerational Health Mobility In The United
States

By Jason Fletcher and Katie Jajtner

Jason Fletcher and Katie Jajtner examine child development through the
lens of intergenerational mobility, or the degree to which children's
outcomes diverge from or follow those of their parents. Read More >>

What We Say And What We Do: Why US Investments In Children's Health
Are Falling Short

By Janet Currie

"When it comes to supporting the health of children and families, what
Americans say is not what we do," Janet Currie notes. She posits that
closing the gap between Americans' stated preferences for spending on
children's health and actual levels of spending requires overcoming
limited trust in government, unrealistic expectations regarding returns
on investment, and ideological divisions. Read More >>

Variation In State Medicaid Implementation Of The ACA: The Case Of
Concurrent Care For Children

By Jessica Laird, Melanie J. Cozad, Jessica Keim-Malpass, Jennifer W.
Mack, and Lisa C. Lindley

Changes in Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program regulations
under Section 2302 of the Affordable Care Act require all state Medicaid
plans to finance curative and hospice services for children. The section
enables the option for pediatric patients to continue curative care
while enrolled in hospice. Jessica Laird and coauthors examined
state-level implementation of concurrent care for Medicaid beneficiaries
and found significant variability in guidelines across the US. Read More
>>

COVID-19

COVID-19 Has Increased Medicaid Enrollment, But Short-Term Enrollment
Changes Are Unrelated To Job Losses

By Chris Frenier, Sayeh S. Nikpay, and Ezra Golberstein

Chris Frenier, Sayeh S. Nikpay, and Ezra Golberstein looked for a
relationship between increased Medicaid enrollment and unemployment
during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors
reviewed available monthly Medicaid enrollment data for March-May 2020
from twenty-six states to document changes in Medicaid enrollment during
this period, as well as how the extent of job loss might be reflected in
increased Medicaid enrollment. Read More >>

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Emphasis On ACA During First Two Days Of Barrett Confirmation Hearing

By Katie Keith (10/14/20)

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in California v. Texas-a
global challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-on November 10, and
the ACA has played a prominent role in confirmation hearings for Court
nominee Amy Coney Barrett thus far. Read More >>

Silver-Loading Likely To Continue Following Federal Circuit Decision On
CSRs

By Aviva Aron-Dine and Christen Linke Young (10/13/20)

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that insurers were
entitled to recover unpaid cost-sharing reduction payments, but only to
the extent they had not recouped their losses through higher premiums.
We expect lengthy legal proceedings, at the end of which most insurers
will not receive much-if any-compensation for 2018 to the present.
Read More >>

New Report: Unsubsidized Marketplace Enrollment Continues To Decline

By Katie Keith (10/13/20)

On October 9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a
new report on enrollment trends in the individual market from 2014 to
2019. Even as year-over-year Marketplace enrollment has remained steady,
enrollment in the individual market among unsubsidized consumers (those
whose income does not qualify them for premium tax credits) continues to
decline. Read More >>

COSTS & SPENDING

Rethinking Annual Deductibles: The Case For Monthly Cost-Sharing Limits

By Paul Shafer, Michal Horný, and Stacie Dusetzina (10/16/20)

Because annual deductibles do not reflect the economic realities of how
people are paid or how they pay for other expenses, we believe that, to
improve access to care, policy makers should consider alternatives to
annual cost-sharing limits. Read More >>

TELEHEALTH

As Telehealth Surges, Dermatology Brings Experience With Access And
Sustainability

By Jules Lipoff

Even though telehealth usage was minimal before the pandemic,
dermatologists are no strangers to its potential. They have been
implementing telemedicine and sharing insights with colleagues in other
specialties to continue effectively delivering high-quality care. Read
More >>

LEGAL & REGULATORY ISSUES

The Preemption Clause That Swallowed Health Care: How ERISA Litigation
Threatens State Health Policy Efforts

By Carmel Shachar

It is increasingly apparent that the scope of ERISA preemption needs to
be curtailed to allow states to continue their traditional role as the
regulators of health care. On October 6, 2020, the US Supreme Court
heard arguments in a new case-Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care
Management-that will shape the implementation of ERISA's preemption
clause and its impact on state regulation. Read More >>

CONSIDERING HEALTH SPENDING

Despite A Bumpy Road Ahead, Incremental Progress On Price Transparency

By Harris Meyer (10/13/20)

Employers, workers, and state and federal policy makers have a daunting
task ahead to squeeze down hospital and physician prices, by far the
highest in the world, in the face of fierce resistance to price
transparency from both providers and insurers. Read More >>

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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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