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The

Commonwealth

Fund Connection

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


February 5, 2021

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COVID-19


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Will Regulatory Changes to Medicare Last Beyond COVID-19?

In 2020, the Trump administration and Congress made 244 Medicare legislative and regulatory changes to help address the COVID-19 public health crisis more effectively. Jennifer Podulka of Health Management Associates explains that many of the changes, especially those made early in the pandemic, relied on waiver authority. The Biden administration will decide whether and how to extend these policies, given the state of the pandemic and its impact on health care providers.

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Solving the U.S. Primary Care Crisis Amid COVID-19

At a time when primary care providers are needed most, too many people can’t find one or have a hard time getting an appointment. In an op-ed in Modern Healthcare (paywall), Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., and Farzad Mostashari, M.D., CEO of Aledade, put forward what could be part of the solution: a capitated compensation model that rewards providers for achieving better patient outcomes, paying them per patient rather than per visit or procedure.

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We Need a New Push to Expand Health Coverage

At the start of the COVID-19 crisis a year ago, more than 35 million people in the United States under age 65 didn’t have health coverage. The Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins argues in a STAT op-ed that the Biden administration and Congress have an opportunity to quickly turn the uninsured trend line down. She calls for opening a national special enrollment period for the federal marketplace, reinstating funds cut by the Trump administration to promote enrollment in marketplace plans and Medicaid, and allowing eligible people in the 12 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid to enroll in marketplace plans at zero premium.

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Ashish Jha on What the U.S. Response to COVID-19 Is Missing

The United States appears to have learned few lessons from its disastrous early response to the pandemic, as evidenced by the sluggish, uncoordinated vaccine rollout. On The Dose podcast, Ashish Jha, M.D., dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, explains how vaccine distribution could be sped up and carried out in a manner that addresses racial and economic disparities.

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COVID-19 Is Making Us Lonelier: Is There a Way Out?

Between lockdowns, social distancing, and the fear that contact with others could make us sick, many people have been living in isolation over the past year. On The Dose podcast, Matthew Pantell and Laura Shields-Zeeman of the University of California, San Francisco, talk about how innovative programs from around the world could help mitigate the effects of isolation. To learn more about innovative programs that are trying to address loneliness and social isolation,
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read this To the Point post.

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Even Under Relief Plan, Millions of Poor Adults Would Remain Uninsured in States That Didn’t Expand Medicaid

Although the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan makes much-needed improvements in access to affordable marketplace coverage, it offers no relief to the poorest adults in states that haven’t expanded eligibility for Medicaid. Health law expert Sara Rosenbaum says the best solution is to urge holdout states to expand Medicaid while encouraging states that have already done so to maintain the expansion.

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Other Recent Publications


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Fixing the Medicare Trust Fund Before It Runs Out of Money

Absent intervention, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund — which pays hospitals, doctors, and nursing homes for the Medicare services they provide — will not be able to fully cover the costs of these services by 2024. In a new series on To the Point, a diverse group of Medicare experts explores how the federal government and Congress can extend the trust fund’s life. Their ideas run the gamut from generating new tax revenues to converting Medicare to a premium support system.

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How to Make Health Care Work Better for Everyone

The Biden administration has an opportunity to not only mount an effective pandemic response but also build its overall health care agenda. On To the Point, Melinda Abrams, Corinne Lewis, and David Blumenthal, M.D., highlight the Commonwealth Fund
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Task Force on Payment and Delivery System Reform’s new recommendations for helping federal policymakers seize this moment. The recommendations call for: increasing disaster and pandemic preparedness; increasing accountability in health care; strengthening primary health care; empowering people and communities; reducing administrative burden; and encouraging a balance of regulatory and competitive approaches.

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Reopening of Health Insurance Marketplace May Spur Increase in Younger Enrollees

The Trump administration had opted not to temporarily reopen the federal health insurance marketplace during the pandemic, citing concerns that an influx of sicker enrollees with greater health needs might lead to premium increases. Rachel Schwab and colleagues at Georgetown University say that concern is unwarranted. They report preliminary data that show those states that invested in marketing and consumer assistance had greater shares of young adult enrollees — the type of individuals who are likely to be healthier and less costly to insurers.

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How an Extension of Postpartum Coverage Could Help Lessen the Maternal Mortality Crisis

With more than half of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States occurring after delivery, the postpartum period is a growing focus of efforts to address the nation’s maternal mortality crisis. As the Urban Institute’s Jennifer Haley and Emily M. Johnston explain, pregnancy-related coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program currently expires just 60 days after the end of pregnancy. If that coverage were extended for 12 months postpartum, 70 percent of women who are currently uninsured in the first year after giving birth would likely become eligible for subsidized coverage and expanded access to needed health care.

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Jost: New Administration Prioritizes Medicaid, ACA, COVID-19, and Women’s Health

Health issues are among President Biden’s top priorities. In its first two weeks, his administration announced 10 COVID-19 directives, an executive order to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and a memorandum addressing women’s health. Health law expert Timothy S. Jost discusses the administration’s health-related actions, including the establishment of a special health enrollment period for the ACA’s federal marketplace and the allocation of $50 million to promote it.

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Jost: Health Care Litigation Under a New Administration

When President Biden took office, he inherited a host of health care lawsuits from the Trump administration, including a Supreme Court challenge to the Affordable Care Act and a Supreme Court appeal of waivers to impose Medicaid work requirements. Health law expert Timothy S. Jost explains these cases and the options available to the new administration.

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More Investment Will Make Health Care Accessible, Affordable, and More Just for All

As countries around the world recover from COVID-19, each will have to find its unique way forward, says the Commonwealth Fund’s Reginald D. Williams II in a post on the OECD Forum Network. In the United States, we must recognize that a system where nearly a third of people skip doctor visits, medications, and medical tests because they can’t afford them is woefully insufficient, Williams writes. And through cross-national comparisons, there are valuable lessons to be learned from countries that do a better job of covering their citizens and ensuring equity.

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The Commonwealth Fund’s Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Commonwealth Fund is committed to becoming an antiracist organization. That commitment extends not only to our research agenda, our grantmaking, and our communications, but also to all aspects of our internal operations. We present our
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Vision Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion . In addition, the Fund is embarking on a major, $15 million initiative through our Health Equity Action Fund to advance equity in U.S. health care. Our goal is to dismantle systemic racism in policy and practice and counter inequity in treatment, patient experience, and health outcomes for Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color.

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Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

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