Medicaid

commentary

Can the Health Insurance System Handle Massive Medicaid Reductions?

For many who have or will soon lose Medicaid as monthly redeterminations restart, and for millions more who could lose insurance due to other factors like job loss, three recent policy developments might increase the chances that they find new health care coverage.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

commentary

The Importance of Getting the Affordable Part of the Affordable Care Act Right

The ACA's expansion of Medicaid and the marketplaces that sell subsidized policies have helped decrease the uninsured rate. Research on being underinsured shows that affordability at the point of care is central to keeping people healthy. For example, a new study found a significant relationship between having health insurance and better asthma control.

Petra Rasmussen

commentary

Twelve-Month Continuous Eligibility for Medicaid Adults Can Stabilize Coverage with a Modest Cost Increase

Churning—frequent moving in and out of Medicaid due to income fluctuation—increases insurance coverage gaps, disrupts access to health care, increases unnecessary administrative burden, and leads to suboptimal health outcomes. Federal and state policymakers might consider continuous eligibility to help stabilize Medicaid enrollment.

Harry H. Liu, Leighton Ku

commentary

Why States' 'Netflix Model' Prescription Drug Arrangements Are No Silver Bullet

Despite the buzz and catchy notion that subscription models are “Netflix for drugs,” it's hard to come up with a theoretical case that supports subscription models over traditional price negotiation between payers and manufacturers over a per-dose or per-unit price.

Harry H. Liu, Andrew W. Mulcahy @AndrewWMulcahy

commentary

What If the Supreme Court Strikes Down the ACA During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

With COVID-19 spreading across the United States, the fate of the Affordable Care Act is once again up in the air, hanging on the outcome of a Supreme Court case. Should the law be overturned, upwards of 20 million people could lose their health insurance during one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Courtney A. Gidengil @c_gidengil

commentary

A Threat to Immigrant Health Care with Potential Consequences for All

The proposed changes to the “public charge” rule could jeopardize decades of progress towards improved health care access and health for immigrants and U.S. citizens. Negative effects may include worse health outcomes, increased use of emergency rooms, and increased prevalence of communicable diseases.

Kathryn Pitkin Derose

blog

A Summer Reading List for Congress

No matter how policymakers spend their break—meeting with home-state constituents, traveling abroad with congressional delegations, or spending time with family—this summer reading list contains policy ideas that can help them hit the ground running when they return.

commentary

Tracking the Affordable Care Act with the RAND Health Reform Opinion Study

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.

Katherine Grace Carman

commentary

Improving Physical Health Care for Adults with Serious Mental Illness

A promising strategy for helping adults with serious mental illness gain access to appropriate primary and preventive medical services is to integrate those services into a setting in which the population already receives care.

Deborah M. Scharf

commentary

Survey Estimates Net Gain of 9.3 Million American Adults with Health Insurance

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.

Katherine Grace Carman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

commentary

Is the ACA Keeping a Lid on Growth in Healthcare Spending?

Some point to the healthcare spending slowdown as an early success of the Affordable Care Act. Others warn that it's merely a hangover from the recession, and that the inevitable spending rebound will be exacerbated by the ACA coverage expansions.

Chapin White

commentary

Who Does the Affordable Care Act Leave Behind?

Although one of the primary objectives of the Affordable Care Act is to achieve near-universal health insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office projects that 30 million residents, more than 10 percent of the nonelderly population, will remain uninsured after the major provisions of the ACA take full effect.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Evan Saltzman

commentary

First Steps on a Long Road: Three Key Findings from ACA's Early Enrollment Numbers

The vision of the ACA was “no wrong door” and an affordable option for everyone, but it appears based on the data available so far that, in the non-Medicaid expansion states, there is a closed door.

Chapin White, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

q&a

Quick Takes: The Math of Medicaid Expansion

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.

commentary

Medicaid Access for the Formerly Incarcerated Under the ACA: Helping the Oft-Forgotten

America's prison population tends to be sicker than the general population. While Medicaid eligibility under the ACA offers an historic opportunity, enrolling the formerly incarcerated into the health exchanges or Medicaid will be neither simple nor straightforward.

Lois M. Davis @LoisMDavis