How Climate Change Puts Mental Health at Risk
Climate change can threaten our mental health and psychosocial well-being. In our International Insights newsletter, Shanoor Seervai explores some of the things governments can do — and are doing — now to strengthen their mental health systems in advance of climate disasters.
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Protecting Patients from Climate Change’s Health Effects
Aaron Bernstein, M.D., of Boston Children’s Hospital has seen the health effects of a worsening climate. He’s treated kids with breathing difficulties, vector-borne diseases, and trauma from natural disasters. In a new Transforming Care interview, we talked to Bernstein about Climate MD, an initiative that aims to help clinicians understand the health effects of climate change and take steps to protect patients.
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Making Good on Climate Pledges for Health Care
Representatives from nearly 200 nations are meeting in Egypt this week for the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP27. At last year’s conference, 47 nations committed to reducing the carbon footprint of health care. On To the Point, Brown University’s Emily Hough and the Commonwealth Fund’s Lovisa Gustafsson outline strategies for meeting nations’ carbon pledges through use of incentives and other supports, partnerships with supply-chain businesses, and engagement of health care workers and the public.
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U.S. Women Struggle to Get Abortions in a Post-Roe World
Many women seeking abortions are treading on landmines, particularly in states where access has been banned or severely restricted. On The Dose podcast, Raegan McDonald-Mosley, M.D., talks about a tool that helps people determine what the abortion laws are in their state and where they can get services. She also discusses the huge risks that women — particularly low-income women of color — face when they can’t get the reproductive health services they need.
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Addressing Children’s Behavioral Health Needs in School
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated young people’s behavioral health issues, increasing rates of teen suicide, anxiety, and depression. Child behavioral health expert Laura Conrad writes on To the Point that many schools lack counselors or the administrative resources necessary to comply with paperwork requirements. But she says increased federal funding and a new technical assistance center are helping.
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Uncared For: Lessons for Safer Pregnancy and Childbirth
The U.S. has the highest rates of pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths in the developed world, and Black Americans are being hit the hardest. Uncared For, a new Commonwealth Fund-supported podcast from Lemonada Media, travels the globe to learn how the U.S. can do better. Over six episodes, host SuChin Pak talks to parents and health workers in California, the Netherlands, Germany, and Costa Rica. Uncared For is out November 15. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Health Insurance That Isn’t Good Enough
More people in the United States have health insurance than ever before. Yet between cost barriers and coverage exclusions, it’s often insurance in name only for too many Americans. In an op-ed published in STAT, the Commonwealth Fund’s David Blumenthal, M.D., and Sara R. Collins argue that to tackle this issue, the country must address the underlying cause: the sky-high cost of health care.
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Fixing the Family Glitch Means New Coverage Options
Under the Affordable Care Act, people with lower incomes are eligible for premium subsidies when they buy marketplace health plans — unless they’ve been offered affordable coverage from their employer. But what’s considered affordable is based only on the employee’s, and not the family’s, costs. Katie Keith of Georgetown University explains a new rule that fixes what has become known as the “family glitch” — a welcome change that could help hundreds of thousands of lower-income Americans.
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How Can Lawmakers Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap?
Millions of poor U.S. adults remain uninsured, even with recent policy remedies. Health law expert Sara Rosenbaum discusses the latest legislative efforts to cover the 2.3 million low-income Americans — disproportionately people of color — who are too poor to qualify for marketplace plan subsidies yet also live in states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility.
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Comparing Proposals for a Public Option
Commercial health insurance can be expensive for many Americans. That’s why some in Congress have proposed a new public health insurance option — a government-run, comprehensive plan that would serve as an affordable alternative. Christine Monahan and Kevin Lucia of Georgetown University analyze four public option bills from the current congressional session that aim to hold down reimbursement rates while ensuring adequate provider participation.
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Accountable Care for All
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to scale up its accountable care organization (ACO) programs, in which participating physicians and hospitals agree to coordinate patients’ health care and ensure good-quality care, all while keeping costs under control. On To the Point, the Commonwealth Fund’s Celli Horstman and colleagues explore the factors that affect an ACO’s success, including the level of provider financial incentives, a focus on equity and primary care, and a culture of collaboration and engagement.
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Making Health Care Consolidation Work for Patients
The U.S. health care marketplace has become increasingly concentrated, with payers and providers coming together as “payviders,” pharmacies merging with pharmacy benefit managers, and hospitals buying up independent practices. In a new Transforming Care interview, Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., discusses how this consolidation might impact cost and quality for patients, and whether Amazon and other disruptors could fundamentally improve the health care landscape.
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What Are the Best Ways to Lower Drug Prices?
Last month, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to consider new models for lowering prescription drug prices and costs. On To the Point, the Commonwealth Fund’s Lovisa Gustafsson and experts from the Wynne Health Group detail a range of approaches for the agency to consider, from increased use of generic and biosimilar drugs to incorporating prescription drug costs into value-based payment models.
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Using YouTube to Communicate Health Information
In October, YouTube invited medical professionals who create educational videos to become certified as authoritative sources, a move that would elevate their content on the platform. Until now, only academic institutions and nonprofits were eligible for this status. This summer, Garth Graham, M.D., director and global head of health care and public health partnerships at YouTube, spoke to the Commonwealth Fund about how popular YouTube creators
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Medicare Data Hub Highlights Drug Costs, COVID Spending
As the Medicare program evolves to address an aging population, a pandemic, and rising inflation, the Commonwealth Fund’s Medicare Data Hub continues to provide updated information and analysis on enrollment and spending trends, Medicare Advantage costs and benefits, prescription drugs, COVID-19 impacts, and many other topics. New to the Data Hub are comparisons of Medicare Parts B and D trends in drug spending, as well as updates on shifting spending patterns in traditional Medicare during the pandemic.
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