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The Commonwealth Fund Connection

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




July 23, 2021

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COVID-19


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Survey: Medical Bill Problems Loom Large for Americans Most Affected by COVID-19
Americans who have suffered the most during the COVID-19 pandemic are also more likely to be saddled with medical bill problems and debt, according to results from a Commonwealth Fund survey. Adults ages 19 to 64 who contracted the virus, lost income, or lost their job-based health insurance coverage also reported higher rates of problems with medical bills and debt than people not affected by the pandemic in these ways. While federal and state efforts to help people get or maintain insurance may have reduced coverage losses, further action is needed to increase coverage access and affordability, researchers say.

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READ MORE
Improving Vaccination Rates Through Primary Care
Primary care physicians have historically provided the largest share of vaccinations, an
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Annals of Internal Medicine study has found. In a
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recent COVID-19 poll conducted by the African American Research Collaborative and the Commonwealth Fund, more than half of unvaccinated U.S. adults said they would prefer to get the jab at their doctor’s office. Recently, Sarah Klein and Martha Hostetter
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profiled primary care practices that have taken part in the COVID vaccination campaign. They offer lessons for policymakers and other providers on how to make vaccination sustainable within routine primary care.




Other Recent Publications


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A Closer Look at Last Year’s Record Overdose Deaths
Amid the social isolation, economic stress, and disrupted access to health care during the pandemic, U.S. drug overdose deaths surged to previously unseen levels. On To the Point, the Commonwealth Fund’s Jesse Baumgartner and David Radley examine provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that overdose deaths in 2020 climbed above 93,000. While the impact was widespread, residents of southern states and people of color were the hardest hit.

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READ MORE

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Surprise Medical Bills: How New Regulations Will Protect Consumers
Starting in January 2022, the No Surprises Act will protect consumers who inadvertently or unknowingly use out-of-network health providers from being billed for anything beyond in-network costs. Georgetown University’s Jack Hoadley and Kevin Lucia delve into the Biden administration’s first set of regulations for implementing the law, which provide guidance on several elements, including consumer protections.

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A Federal Pathway to Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap Won’t Lead States to End Their Expansions
To close the coverage gap for more than 2 million low-income adults in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid eligibility, some Senate Democrats have proposed creating a fully subsidized and federally funded marketplace plan or a federally administered Medicaid plan. Despite fears from some corners, George Washington University’s Sara Rosenbaum says neither option will cause states that have already expanded their Medicaid programs to reverse course. She argues that the health and economic benefits Medicaid expansion states have realized so far make it unlikely they would unwind their expansions.

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U.S. Primary Care Can Absorb Additional Demand for Health Services
The U.S. primary care system “has been able to absorb the increases in demand generated by the Affordable Care Act,” a Commonwealth Fund analysis concludes. New York University researchers Benjamin Zhu and Sherry Glied say health care providers could accommodate increased demand stemming from future insurance coverage expansions of a magnitude similar to the ACA’s without jeopardizing quality of care. Only slightly more primary care was delivered to the average patient after the ACA coverage expansions than before.

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READ MORE





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