Insurance Costs Eating Up Larger Share of Middle-Income Wages
Many working families are spending more of their income on health care, as insurance premiums and deductibles continue to grow faster than earnings. For a middle-income household making about $64,000 a year, those costs together amounted to 11.5 percent of income in 2018, up from 7.8 percent in 2008, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study. In 42 states, premiums and deductibles represented 10 percent or more of median income, compared to only seven states a decade earlier.
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| | The U.S. is falling behind when it comes to supporting women during pregnancy and after childbirth. What strategies can help reverse the trend?
@Commonwealthfnd https://buff.ly/2pDV0Yi |
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Tim Jost: Court Decision on Association Health Plans May Not Resolve Key Issues
A federal appeals court recently heard oral arguments in a case concerning the regulation of association health plans, or AHPs — insurance that businesses or professional associations offer their members. In a To the Point post, health law expert Timothy S. Jost writes that, based on events so far in court, the final decision may leave the most important issues in the case undecided.
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Congress Acts to Increase Postpartum Medicaid Coverage
The House Energy and Commerce committee recently advanced two bipartisan bills to extend Medicaid coverage to a full year after birth. On To the Point, Commonwealth Fund researchers explain why Medicaid is well positioned to provide comprehensive and continuous coverage during the “fourth trimester” — the 100 days after childbirth, when most complications occur.
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Health Information Technology | |
Blumenthal: Why the Google–Ascension Agreement Is a Big Deal
The health system Ascension announced it will begin sending clinical data on its 50 million patients to Google. Reactions to the announcement make it clear we are at the beginning of “a long, contentious, and vital debate over how to manage personal health information in the digital age,” writes Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., in Harvard Business Review.
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International Health Policy and Practice Innovations | |
Join a Special Event on the Latest International Health Policy Survey
Join us on December 11 for a special event marking the publication of the 2019 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians in 11 Countries. Convened by Health Affairs and the Commonwealth Fund, the meeting will bring together senior government officials, health care delivery system experts, and leading policy thinkers from around the world for a discussion of strategies to promote high-quality primary care.
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Take a 10-Minute Survey: Improving Approaches to Complex Care
The Commonwealth Fund is working with five other health foundations to identify and share promising approaches to caring for people with complex health and social needs. Please help shape our programming by taking a brief survey on what’s happening in the field.
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