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Employer Sponsored Health Insurance

Health Insurance
commentary
Temporary Safety-Net Policies Prevented Mass Insurance Loss During the Pandemic
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu
Dec 13, 2021
The RAND Blog
Although it provided a foundation, the ACA alone could not have absorbed the effects of the pandemic's sudden job losses on health care coverage. Temporary expansions to the safety net enacted by Congress also were necessary to stem coverage loss. As the pandemic continues, policymakers will want to keep safety-net provisions as available policy options.
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Wages and Compensation
commentary
Is the Fight for $15 Going to Cost Low-Wage Workers Their Health Insurance?
Michael Dworsky, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Jeffrey B. Wenger
Oct 11, 2021
Newsweek
Minimum wage increases can lead to reductions in employer-sponsored health insurance for some workers and their dependents. If policymakers want to raise the minimum wage, they should look beyond standard labor market outcomes and take into account other potential effects.
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Health Insurance Mandates
commentary
Can a Continuous Coverage Requirement Produce a Healthy Insurance Market?
Erin Lindsey Duffy, Michael Dworsky, Christopher M. Whaley @cm_whaley
Jan 4, 2017
The Hill
A continuous coverage requirement is intended to discourage individuals from waiting until they become sick to purchase insurance. Such a requirement works well in theory to maintain a healthy marketplace, but there is little evidence on how well it might work in practice.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Insurance Enrollment Holds Steady in Advance of the 2016 Open Enrollment Period
Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Nov 12, 2015
The RAND Blog
Since September 2013, the number of people with health insurance coverage has increased by 16.6 million. But since the second ACA open enrollment period in February 2015, the number of people with coverage has remained relatively flat. The third open enrollment period began on November 1. Whether the number of uninsured will continue to decline remains an open question.
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Health Care Costs
commentary
A Tale of Two Deliveries, or an Out-of-Network Problem
Erin Audrey Taylor, Layla Parast
Nov 4, 2015
Health Affairs Blog
Two mothers gave birth within weeks of each other, at the same hospital, using the same employer-sponsored insurance. Both had an epidural. But one received a surprise physician bill for anesthesiology, while the other didn't have to pay a dime. Why?
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Employer Sponsored Health Insurance
commentary
Exchange Tax Credits or Employer Coverage: What's Better for Low-Income Americans?
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Feb 12, 2015
The Morning Consult
As the King v. Burwell case approaches, there's likely to be more discussion about potential modifications to the ACA's tax credit structure. Policymakers might consider whether there are opportunities to level the playing field for low-income workers, regardless of whether their employers offer insurance.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Tracking the Affordable Care Act with the RAND Health Reform Opinion Study
Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman
Apr 22, 2014
RWJF's Human Capital Blog
The HROS uses panel data to track changes in public opinion regarding the ACA and insurance coverage. By surveying the same respondents each month, the HROS observes not only aggregate changes, but also individual changes in opinion or insurance coverage over time.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Survey Estimates Net Gain of 9.3 Million American Adults with Health Insurance
Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Apr 8, 2014
The RAND Blog
Early survey evidence indicates that the Affordable Care Act has already led to a substantial increase in insurance coverage. Consistent with the ACA's design, this gain in insurance has come not only from new enrollment in the marketplaces, but also from new enrollment in employer coverage and Medicaid.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Checking the ACA's Vital Signs
Evan Saltzman
Mar 17, 2014
The Health Care Blog
Despite pervasive challenges associated with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the administration remains optimistic about its fate. Critics, however, have seized upon the recent mishaps as evidence of the ACA's inevitable demise.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Employer Mandate Delay II: Nothing to See Here
Evan Saltzman
Mar 3, 2014
The RAND Blog
Amid mounting political pressure and angst in the business community, the Obama administration announced an additional delay in enforcing the employer mandate component of the Affordable Care Act for some firms until 2016. The additional delay will have little impact.
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Employer Sponsored Health Insurance
commentary
Employer-Provided Health Insurance: Why Does It Persist, and Will It Continue after 2014?
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Dec 2, 2013
New England Journal of Medicine
As the ACA is implemented, policy makers should be attuned to potential inefficiencies and inequities created by a system with different regulatory and tax rules for small employers, large employers, and individual health plans. Attempts to equalize the playing field may be difficult.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Four Questions on Canceled Insurance Policy Fix
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Nov 15, 2013
USA Today
David Mastio, Forum editor at USA TODAY, asked RAND's Christine Eibner four questions about President Obama's plan to fix the problem with people getting their insurance canceled.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Data Points: Why Delay of the Employer Mandate May Not Actually Mean That Much
Carter C. Price @CarterCPrice, Evan Saltzman
Aug 29, 2013
The Health Care Blog
The bottom line is that the employer mandate does not provide a large inducement for firms to change their health insurance offerings, but it does raise a substantial amount of money to pay for the ACA's coverage provisions over time.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Will Small Firms Self-Insure After Jan. 1, 2014?
Amado Cordova, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Jun 17, 2013
The RAND Blog
Because of the ACA's regulations, some smaller employers with young and healthy workers are considering avoiding the purchase of health care coverage in the regulated market, opting instead to self-insure their employees.
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Health Care Costs
blog
In Brief: Amelia M. Haviland on Consumer-Directed Health Plans
Amelia Haviland
Jan 23, 2013
Amelia Haviland presents the results of several new RAND studies on cost and quality in consumer-directed health plans, and explores how switching plans affects the quality of care.
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Employer Sponsored Health Insurance
commentary
Health Care Cost Growth Is Hurting Middle-Class Families
Arthur L. Kellermann, David I. Auerbach
Jan 8, 2013
Health Affairs Blog
Unfortunately, nearly every actor in our health care delivery system—hospitals, physicians, other health care providers, insurance companies and the manufacturers of drugs and devices—is currently focused on maximizing revenue growth, write Arthur Kellermann and David Auerbach.
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Health Care Cost Inflation
commentary
Health Care Costs Are Killing Us
Arthur L. Kellermann
Jan 4, 2013
the RWJF's Human Capital Blog
At a time when our country is teetering on the edge of a “fiscal cliff,” no challenge in health care is more important than reducing health care spending, writes Arthur L. Kellermann.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Will More Employers Drop Coverage Under the ACA? Don't Bet on It
Arthur L. Kellermann
Jul 27, 2012
The RAND Blog
A problem with using surveys to predict behavior is that they measure employer sentiment toward the ACA today, rather than the economic decisions employers typically make when the time comes, writes Art Kellermann.
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Health Insurance Cost Sharing
blog
Expanding Consumer-Directed Health Plans Could Help Cut Overall Health Care Spending
Jun 1, 2012
If consumer-directed health plans grow to account for half of all employer-sponsored insurance in the United States, health costs could drop by $57 billion annually—about 4 percent of all health care spending among the nonelderly.
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Employer Sponsored Health Insurance
blog
Would the Affordable Care Act Lead to Reductions in Employer-Sponsored Coverage?
May 4, 2012
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) individual mandate, one of the questions being debated is what effect the mandate would have on employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. A factor to consider in this is the effect the ACA would have on small businesses, which employ the majority of America's private-sector workforce.
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Health Care Reform
commentary
Scorecard for New Health Reform Legislation
Elizabeth A. McGlynn
Mar 26, 2010
National Journal
How close do you think that the health care reform plan would come, in reality, to achieving each goal? On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is extremely close, and 1 is not at all close.
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