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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs
October 18, 2020
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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.
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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 >>
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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.
Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
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