Health Care Reform

The debate within the U.S. government about reforming the health care system centers on ways to control rising costs and assure high-quality, affordable care. RAND Health and its health care reform initiative--RAND COMPARE (Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts)--provide objective research and analysis on topics that can inform the health care reform debate, including financing; increasing access, insurance coverage, and quality; decreasing costs; and promoting wellness and prevention.

Research conducted by: RAND Health

Research Briefs (18)

How Does Health Reform Affect the Health Care Workforce? Lessons from Massachusetts — Dec 13, 2011

Since Massachusetts enacted health reform legislation in 2006, health care employment in the state has grown more rapidly than in the rest of the United States, primarily in administrative positions.

How Will Health Care Reform Affect Costs and Coverage? Examples from Five States — Apr 1, 2011

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in five states.

How Will the Affordable Care Act Affect Employee Health Coverage at Small Businesses? — Sep 8, 2010

Finds that the Affordable Care Act will increase the percentage of employers that offer health coverage to workers: from 57 percent to 80 percent for firms with 50 or fewer workers, and from 90 percent to 98 percent for firms with 51 to 100 workers.

Post-Katrina Project Demonstrates a Rapid, Participatory Assessment of Health Care and Develops a Partnership for Post-Disaster Recovery in New Orleans — Mar 10, 2010

Stakeholders in communities in which health care access was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina were engaged in an assessment of health priorities, as well as in data interpretation and plan design, to produce a sustainable community-academic partnership.

The Potential Impact of President Obama's Health Reform Proposal — Feb 24, 2010

An independent evaluation of the health reform proposal made this week by President Obama shows that the plan would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 30 million by 2019—very similar to the results expected under separate legislation passed by the House and Senate.

Projected Impact of Senate Health Reform Bill; Estimates of Alternative Designs — Feb 16, 2010

As federal lawmakers prepare for a summit on health care, a new analysis shows that health reform legislation passed by the U.S. Senate would cut the number of uninsured Americans by about half and cost the federal government about $899 billion by 2019.

Coverage, Spending, and Consumer Financial Risk: How Do the Recent House and Senate Health Care Bills Compare? — Feb 12, 2010

Compares how two health care reform bills, HR. 3962 and H.R. 3590, passed by the U.S. House and Senate, respectively, in late 2009 compare on a variety of projections made using the RAND COMPARE microsimulation model.

Analysis of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) — Jan 7, 2010

Using the COMPARE microsimulation model, estimates proposed health care reform legislation's effects on the number of uninsured, the costs to the federal government and the nation, revenues from penalty payments, and consumers' health care spending.

Room for improvement: Strong patient safety systems could limit health, social and economic harms from medical error — Sep 22, 2009

RAND Europe reviewed the problem of patient harm in Europe, assessed expected effects of three policy action areas to improve safety and modelled the potential health benefits that could be achieved by reducing numbers of harmful events.

Controlling Health Care Spending in Massachusetts — Sep 10, 2009

In 2006, Massachusetts passed landmark legislation ensuring near-universal health insurance coverage to its residents, but rising costs threaten the initiative; this policy brief assesses 21 options for controlling health care spending in the state.

Health Care Cost Growth and the Economic Performance of U.S. Industries — Jul 30, 2009

Suggests that excess growth in health care costs has adverse economic effects and that these effects are more pronounced in industries that have a higher percentage of workers with employer-sponsored insurance.

A National Health Information Network -- What Are the Real Privacy Issues? — Aug 18, 2008

This fact sheet summarizes research suggesting that there are basic privacy issues that need to be resolved in the implementation of a national health information network.

Behavioral Health Parity: Consequences for Federal Employee Health Plans — Apr 17, 2007

This research brief assesses the effects of the government-required Federal Employees Health Benefits Program's provision of behavioral health benefits equal to its general health benefits on insurers and consumers' use of services and spending.

The Health Insurance Experiment: A Classic RAND Study Speaks to the Current Health Care Reform Debate — Dec 6, 2006

This research brief summarizes the main findings of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment and clarifies its relevance for today's health care debate.

Redefining and Reforming Health Care for the Last Years of Life — Jun 21, 2006

Increased life expectancy and advances in health care mean that Americans now live longer, but with increased chronic illness at the end of life. Deliberate reforms to the U.S. health care system are needed to respond to these changes.

State Efforts to Insure the Uninsured: An Unfinished Story — Nov 25, 2005

A series of studies conducted by RAND economists Susan Marquis and Stephen Long have examined how successful experimental state public health insurance programs and new public subsidies have been.

Health Care Coverage for the Nation's Uninsured: Can We Get to Universal Coverage? — Jan 1, 2000

States vary substantially in the number of uninsured residents and in their population's health and access to care. As a consequence, effects of policies will vary across states. Many states may need federal assistance to expand access.

Introducing Managed Care in the Military Health System — Jan 1, 1999

CRI fundamentally changed the military health system; therefore, Congress required a demonstration to test the initiative's feasibility and cost-effectiveness before expanding it.

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