Facts & Resources

AEI Scholars Develop Market-Based Proposal for Health Care Reform

In advance of Thursday’s bipartisan health care summit, researchers with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) have developed a new, market-based model for health care reform. This proposal is based on what the authors term “realistic priorities for reform” and include such recommendations as lifting the ban on interstate insurance purchases and reforms to medical liability and malpractice regulations. To read more about this report, or to download a copy, click here.

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Coverage, Delivery System Reforms, Financing, Health IT, Insurance, Quality & Safety, Simplified Administration

Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today unveiled a new report, Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System. The report highlights health insurance premium increases in states across the country and comes shortly after Anthem Blue Cross announced plans to raise rates on its California customers by as much as 39 percent, even after its parent company took in a profit of $2.7 billion in the previous quarter.

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Coverage, Economic Impacts, Insurance, Trends

Administration Invites Congressional Leaders to Bipartisan Health Care Summit

The following letter, directed to the House and Senate Leadership, requests their attendance at a health care summit, to be held on February 25th. The purpose of this summit, according to the letter, is bring the parties together to “act on behalf of the millions of Americans and small businesses who are counting on meaningful health insurance reform.”

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Coverage, Delivery System Reforms, Disparities, Drug and Device Cost Containment, Economic Impacts, Financing, Health IT, Innovation, Insurance, Policy Implementation, Prevention & Wellness, Quality & Safety, Simplified Administration, Trends, Vulnerable Populations, Workforce Reforms / Human Capital

Democratic Congressional Leaders Asked to Ensure Bipartisan Process

The following letter, directed to the House and Senate Leadership, requests their attendance at a health care summit, to be held on February 25th. The purpose of this summit, according to the letter, is bring the parties together to “act on behalf of the millions of Americans and small businesses who are counting on meaningful health insurance reform.”

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Coverage, Delivery System Reforms, Disparities, Drug and Device Cost Containment, Economic Impacts, Financing, Health IT, Innovation, Insurance, Policy Implementation, Prevention & Wellness, Quality & Safety, Simplified Administration, Trends, Vulnerable Populations, Workforce Reforms / Human Capital

National Health Expenditures Jumped 5.7 Percent Last Year

Last year despite the recession, national health care spending hit $2.5 trillion, a 5.7 percent jump from 2008, according to projections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Increased health spending and decreased GDP combined to increase health care’s share of the economy by 1.1 percent – the biggest one-year jump since the government began tracking the numbers in 1960. According to CMS economists writing in the journal, Health Affairs. Health expenditures are estimated to have consumed 17.3 percent of GDP last year. As growing unemployment caused forced  more people to rely on Medicaid, public spending grew to 8.7 percent, or $1.2 trillion. At the same time private payers increases totaling $1.3 trillion, a 3 percent increase.  Health costs now equal 17 percent of the nation’s economy.  READ THE HEALTH AFFAIRS ARTICLE: 

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Economic Impacts, Financing, Trends

Allies In Action – “Better Care at Lower Cost: Principles of Design”

Families USA held  it’s Annual Health Action 2010 Conference in Washington D.C. on January 28-30.

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Quality & Safety

CBO Projects Medicare Spending at $1,038 Billion in 2020

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020 (Report).  

 

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Economic Impacts

The New Democratic Leadership Council – “The Lost Decade”

Census data outlines Bush era setbacks in poverty, income, and health coverage.

Issue Area(s):

Coverage, Disparities, Economic Impacts, Trends

National Minimum Medical Loss Ratio Would Save Tens of Billions of Dollars For Businesses, Individuals – Main Street Alliance

The Main Street Alliance looks at how setting a new medical loss ratio would impact the U.S. health care system.

Issue Area(s):

Cost

The Health Care Blog – The Silver Lining

How the GOP victory in Massachusett’s may be just what the Democratic party needs and how it will affect health care reform.

Issue Area(s):

Policy Implementation

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