Insured But Unprotected: Coverage Gaps Block Millions from Care
Even as a historically high number of Americans have health insurance, continuing gaps in coverage and high out-of-pocket health costs are blocking many people from getting the care they need. Reporting on the latest Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, Sara Collins, Lauren Haynes, and Relebohile Masitha reveal how many Americans experience coverage gaps, how many have insurance but are underinsured, how costs are affecting decisions to get needed care, and how many people have medical bills they cannot pay.
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Changing the Affordability Benchmark for Marketplace Coverage
A proposal in the U.S. Senate to make health care more affordable for people purchasing individual coverage in the marketplaces would change the benchmark plan from silver to gold, which covers a greater share of patients’ health care expenses. In a new issue brief, Commonwealth Fund researchers explore how this change might affect consumers’ deductibles and out-of-pocket limits and how those costs would compare to those in employer health plans.
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Who Gets to Decide When the Pandemic Is Over?
President Biden calling the pandemic over doesn’t mean the virus has disappeared. In fact, hundreds of Americans are still dying each day from COVID-19, and thousands are suffering from long COVID, a host of protracted symptoms that could lead to severe health complications down the line. On the latest episode of The Dose podcast, host Shanoor Seervai talks to Dr. Bob Wachter, one of the nation’s foremost experts on the pandemic, about living with COVID in 2022.
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A Policy Roadmap for Addressing Our Behavioral Health Crisis
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — signed into law by President Biden in June — was a critical first step in expanding access to behavioral health services. But amidst rising rates of suicide and drug overdoses, policymakers must build on these advances if they are to stem the nation’s behavioral health crisis. On To the Point,
the Commonwealth Fund’s Nathaniel Counts and Rachel Nuzum outline key areas for reform, including streamlining behavioral health services with primary care, creating a more robust and diverse provider workforce, using Medicare and Medicaid to pay for more services, and reducing behavioral health inequities.
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Bolstering Young People’s Mental Health
Mental health problems often surface during childhood or adolescence, but they can go unnoticed because of a lack of routine screening. According to Laura Conrad of the Technical Assistance Collaborative, several options are available to help state Medicaid programs strengthen screening and preventive behavioral health services for youth who are most at risk, including those in low-income households and children of color. As she explains on To the Point, addressing their problems early is key to achieving better school performance and overall well-being.
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“Phantom Networks” Raise Barriers to Mental Health Care
A recent study published in Health Affairs found that two-thirds of the mental health providers listed in Oregon’s Medicaid managed care network directories were phantom providers who don’t actually see any Medicaid patients. In a recent Transforming Care, we wrote about
lack of access to mental health services for youth, many of whom rely on Medicaid for services, and describe innovative efforts to fill gaps in care.
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Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership Is Accepting Applications
The application for the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale University is now open. The 22-month, degree-granting program covers the cost of the MBA for Executives program and gives health care practitioners the leadership skills and deep understanding of teams, markets, and organizations necessary to tackle inequities in U.S. health care. Learn about the
current cohort of fellows here. The deadline for round 1 of the application is November 1, 2022.
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How the IRA Can Drive Down Health Care’s Carbon Emissions
The health care sector is responsible for 8.5 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including direct emissions from health care facilities and indirect emissions from the industry’s supply chain. Writing on To the Point, Joe Kruger of the Georgetown Climate Center explains how the Inflation Reduction Act can help health care organizations reduce their carbon footprint by shifting to clean electricity and lowering transportation and supply chain emissions.
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