Health Reform Hub Issues

Issues :: Uninsured

Health Care Wastefulness Is Detailed in Studies
Kevin Sack

The New York Times, 9/7/10

In a snapshot of systemic waste, researchers have calculated that more than half of the 354 million doctor visits made each year for acute medical care, like for fevers, stomachaches and coughs, are not with a patient’s primary physician, and that more than a quarter take place in hospital emergency rooms. The authors of the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs, said it highlighted a significant question about the new federal health care law: can access to primary care be maintained, much less improved, when an already inadequate and inefficient system takes on an expected 32 million newly insured customers?
 Read more...

Who in Massachusetts Doesn’t Have Health Insurance?
Katherine Hobson

Wall Street Journal, 8/17/10

Massachusetts has almost-universal health coverage — just 4.1% of its residents went without insurance in 2008. That’s way better than any other state, in terms of access. (The program, however, has been struggling with how to pay for all this expanded access, but that’s another post for another day.) Researchers from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Health Access Reform Evaluation program and the Urban Institute wanted to know more about the uninsured population in the state, so they analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Their findings appear in a  research brief released today. Read more...

Economy Led to Cuts in Use of Health Care
Robert Pear

The New York Times, 8/16/10

The economic crisis in the United States has reduced the use of routine medical care, and the cutbacks here are much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems, researchers say in a new report. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that “Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care” much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. Individuals and families in all five countries lost income because of unemployment and lost wealth because of steep declines in stock prices. Read more...

Mass. Man Sues Over Health Insurance Law
Brad Puffer

New England Cable News, 8/10/10

A Massachusetts man who doesn't have health insurance is now suing the state. He says he can't afford insurance or pay the fine for not having it, and feels like he's being singled out. Mike Merlina installs glass for a family owned business on the North Shore. With just seven employees, the company does not offer health insurance. He used to have insurance through his wife. But last year she lost her job. Now Merlina faces a two-thousand dollar fine from the state.  Read more...

Statistics: Who Visits the Emergency Room? 20 Percent of Americans, Insured or Not
Roni Caryn Rabin

The New York Times, 8/9/10

Americans, insured and not, make ample use of hospital emergency rooms: One out of every five visited an ER at least once in 2007, the latest year for which the National Center for Health Statistics has data. Among the uninsured, 7.4 percent made two or more visits to an E.R., but so did 5.1 percent of people with private insurance. Medicaid recipients were the heaviest users of E.R.’s, with 15.3 percent of them making two or more visits during the year. Read more...

Obamacare: Much Pain for Little Gain
Michael Tanner

The Orange County Register, 7/30/10

Obamacare was conceived around three goals: 1) providing health insurance coverage for all Americans, 2) reducing insurance costs for individuals, businesses and government, and 3) increasing the quality of health care and the value received for each dollar of health care spending. Just over 100 days after the law was signed, the evidence shows it is failing on each and every one of those goals. Read more...

Changing the Name — But Not the Political Game
Thomas Miller and James C. Capretta

Health Affairs Blog, 7/30/10

Earlier this month, the Obama administration launched the latest version of high-risk pools, as authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The new pools are off to a stumbling start – behind schedule, facing resistance (or indifference) from many state governments, structurally flawed, and substantially underfunded. In other words, “Close enough for government work.” But if you can’t solve a problem by first overstating it, and then underfunding it, you can at least change its name – to the “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan,” increase the gaping chasm between its overreaching promises and likely results, and provide an emblematic preview of larger problems ahead in the rest of ObamaCare. Read more...

Unemployment extension 101: how health care is affected
Ron Scherer

The Christian Science Monitor, 07/29/10

When President Obama signed the six month federal extension of unemployment insurance, one item not included was an extension of the subsidy for health insurance for newly laid-off workers. Read more...

Study: High deductible health plans may proliferate
Boston Globe, 07/29/10

Roughly 55 percent of employers said that high deductible health plans will be more attractive to them following the passage of health care reform legislation, a new study from Fidelity Investments found. In a press release, the Boston mutual funds giant said it recently surveyed 459 employers in hopes of getting a better understanding of how health care reform is impacting employers and their benefit strategy. The study found that a majority of employers expect health care reform to lead to cost increases, and smaller employers are particularly concerned about near-term cost increases. Read more...

Health Insurance: College Kids Face Coverage Choices
Candice Choi

The Fiscal Times, 07/28/10

It's the first real-life test for students heading off to college: picking the right health insurance plan.
The confusion starts before students even step foot on campus, when families must decide whether to sign up for a school-based health insurance plan. Most four-year universities offer their own plans, but the costs and coverage levels vary greatly. It's also not clear how these plans will be affected by the recent health care reforms. As with most insurance matters, there's no simple answer on which route families should take. But here's a look at what to consider. Read more...