Skip to page content

Health Insurance Cost Sharing

Health Care Costs
commentary
Addressing Surprise Medical Bills Without Raising the Cost of Health Care
Erin L. Duffy, Mark W. Friedberg, Christopher Whaley, Chapin White @ChapinWhite
Apr 1, 2019
The Hill
Patients who try to stay within their insurers' networks can be hit with surprise bills when they unknowingly receive care from out-of-network physicians. How much should a physician be paid for providing a service that is critical but rendered without the patient's ready ability to choose an in-network provider?
Read More »

Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
Medicare for All: Sounds Good, but What Does It Mean?
David Anderson, Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu, Mark W. Friedberg
Nov 19, 2018
Health Affairs Blog
Traditional Medicare is popular and therefore can lend a good brand name to coverage expansion proposals, but its limits can be significant for some patients. Those proposing and evaluating “Medicare for All” proposals should consider whether and how these limits are addressed.
Read More »
Health Care Payment Approaches
commentary
Misconceptions About 'Medicare for All'
Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Oct 27, 2018
USA Today
Medicare for All is a talking point for both major U.S. political parties. Would it be free? Would people have to switch doctors? Would waits be long? Misconceptions abound about single-payer proposals and their likely effects. Here are the facts.
Read More »
Health Care Payment Approaches
commentary
Savings from a Single-Payer Health System Would Not Be Automatic
Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu
Sep 26, 2017
The Hill
Polls have shown increasing public support for a single-payer system in the United States. Yet there is no agreement on how to set up and pay for a single-payer system or even how much it would cost.
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
Four Steps That Could Stabilize the Health Insurance Market
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Aug 25, 2017
The Hill
Congress will soon discuss options to stabilize the individual market and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable coverage. Policymakers could encourage enrollment, make targeted investments to lower premiums, fund cost-sharing reductions, and enforce the individual mandate.
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
Insuring Younger Adults Through the ACA's Marketplaces: Options to Expand Enrollment
Evan Saltzman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Dec 16, 2016
The Commonwealth Fund Blog
Whether or not the Affordable Care Act is repealed, having young adults participate in the individual health insurance market remains critical to achieving affordable premiums for everyone.
Read More »
Prescription Drug Benefits
commentary
Easing the Pain When Critical Medications Are No Longer Covered
Erin Audrey Taylor
Oct 28, 2016
The Hill
Allowing insurance companies to limit the drugs they cover is necessary to give them leverage that can result in lower medication costs for all patients. Still, there are ways to make the process more transparent and manageable.
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
q&a
Estimating the Impacts of the Trump and Clinton Health Plans
Sep 23, 2016
Donald Trump wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Hillary Clinton wants to maintain and modify it. How could each proposal impact coverage, out-of-pocket costs, and the deficit?
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
At 40, a Pioneering Health Care Experiment Remains Relevant
Michael D. Rich @michaeldrich
Apr 18, 2016
The RAND Blog
The impact of RAND's Health Insurance Experiment has been wide-reaching. The study's conclusions encouraged the restructuring of private insurance and helped increase the stature of managed care in the United States.
Read More »
Affordable Care Act
commentary
Modifying the ACA's Family Subsidy Rules to Help Ensure Affordability
Amado Cordova, Sarah A. Nowak, Evan Saltzman
Jan 12, 2016
The Commonwealth Fund Blog
The ACA encourages workers to retain employer coverage by restricting their eligibility for marketplace subsidies. Modifying the policy could help 700,000 people gain coverage and lower spending for 1.6 million who are insured but face high health care costs under current ACA policy.
Read More »
Health Care Price Competition
commentary
Bringing Sky-High Prescription Drug Prices Down to Earth
Erin Audrey Taylor
Dec 10, 2015
KevinMD.com
Increased competition among drug companies and improved bargaining power of insurers and consumers could help keep high prescription prices in check.
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
What Happens If the ACA's Tax Credits Are Replaced with Premium Support?
Evan Saltzman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
Nov 24, 2015
The Commonwealth Fund Blog
As policymakers consider alternatives to reduce the federal government's financial burden from providing subsidies under the ACA, they should consider the consequences for enrollees. Existing premium-support models yield considerable savings for the federal government but could create age and income disparities in coverage.
Read More »
Family Planning
commentary
Policy Barriers to Best Practices: The Impact of Restrictive State Regulations on Access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives
Priya Batra, Chloe E. Bird @ChloeBirdPhD
Nov 6, 2015
Women's Health Issues
Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods of birth control, which include the intrauterine device and subdermal implant, are highly effective, very safe, preferable to women, and cost effective. But some states' contraceptive policies create direct and indirect barriers to LARC use.
Read More »
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.
Read More »
$boy getting checkup$
Medicaid
q&a
Quick Takes: The Math of Medicaid Expansion
Oct 21, 2013
The RAND Blog
Expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is both contentious and complicated. RAND mathematician Carter Price has been using the COMPARE model to help those making decisions understand what their choices mean for their budgets and population health.
Read More »
Health Care Cost Inflation
commentary
Health Care Spending: What's in Store?
Arthur L. Kellermann
Jul 16, 2013
Health Affairs Blog
Resolving the question of whether or not the U.S. has finally gotten a handle on health care spending is vitally important, because the choices we make going forward will have profound implications for our economy, the financial wellbeing of millions of American families, and ultimately America's standing in the world.
Read More »
Health Care Costs
blog
Are You a 'Wise' Health Care Consumer?
Ramya Chari, Arthur L. Kellermann
Feb 5, 2013
To be wise purchasers of health care services, consumers need access to accurate and understandable information about health plans and providers. They wrongly assume that more expensive providers are better than less expensive ones, despite inconsistent evidence that there is any link between health care cost and quality.
Read More »
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.
Read More »
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.
Read More »
Prescription Drug Benefits
blog
When Patients Don't Take Their Medicine: What Role Do Doctors Play in Promoting Prescription Adherence?
Douglas S. Bell, David M. Adamson
Aug 29, 2012
A new paradigm that clarifies joint provider–patient responsibility may be needed to better guide communication about medication adherence, write Douglas S. Bell and David M. Adamson.
Read More »
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.
Read More »
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.
Read More »
commentary
Can the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Become Relevant to Controlling Medical Costs and Improving Value?
Robert H. Brook
Nov 9, 2011
The Journal of the American Medical Association
A scientific and political case could be made to amend health care legislation to require that cost be included in the studies that the PCORI funds, writes Robert H. Brook.
Read More »
commentary
Obama's Health Plan: New Federal Role for Insurance Regulation
Elizabeth A. McGlynn
Feb 22, 2010
National Journal Online
In general, health insurance premiums are set at a level that will cover the expected payouts for insured people plus profit. To provide a context for understanding price increases, this document identifies the factors that insurance companies consider when setting rates for the next year, writes Elizabeth McGlynn.
Read More »
Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
The Public Option: Sorting Rhetoric from Reality
Elizabeth A. McGlynn
Jun 24, 2009
ABC News
President Obama and several Congressional leaders have recently expressed support for the idea of allowing citizens to buy into a public insurance program as part of any health reform legislation. The intensity of the ensuing debate has been fascinating given the lack of specifics that have been offered by either side, writes Elizabeth A. McGlynn.
Read More »
Prescription Drug Benefits
commentary
A Better Way to Pay for Prescriptions
Dana P. Goldman
Apr 19, 2008
Providence Journal
The pricing plans most people choose for their cell phones are simple: Pay one price and talk as much as you want. What if paying for your prescription drugs were as easy and appealing?, writes Dana P. Goldman.
Read More »