This executive summary summarizes what is known about the scope of childhood poverty in the United States today, as well as its effects on health and well-being for U.S children.
To understand how consumers make decisions and the extent to which various factors can hinder decisionmaking, RAND researchers reviewed the literature on health insurance choice and on designing websites to support consumers' choices and, where possible, gleaned best practices from the literature. To understand the approaches health insurance websites have taken to convey information to consumers, they then reviewed 20 websites.
After key ACA provisions went into effect in 2014, enrollment of HIV-positive patients increased. Those newly enrolled in a large California health plan were more likely to be male, in a high-deductible plan, and to have better viral control.
The Trump health care proposal would decrease the number of insured and increase consumer health spending among those with marketplace insurance relative to current law. The policies would also increase the federal deficit by varying amounts.
The authors used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate how the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion affected health insurance enrollment, by source of coverage, among childless adults who became newly eligible for Medicaid in 2014. The NHIS data allowed the authors to report changes in enrollment by source of coverage and to conduct subgroup analyses of Medicaid take-up by gender, age, and other characteristics.
Policymakers seeking to adopt the CARE Act, or to pursue a similar repeal-and-replace policy, may need to maintain some of the ACA's revenue-generating provisions, adopt alternative revenue-generating provisions, or reduce the generosity of tax credits to achieve budget neutrality.
Medicaid financial losses at children's hospitals greatly exceed losses at other types of hospitals.
A growing body of literature describes how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health insurance coverage. What is less well known is how these coverage gains have affected populations that are at risk for high health spending.
Exploits the Affordable Care Act young adult dependent coverage expansion to measure the effect of health coverage expansions on workers' compensation claim frequency and severity.
The Clinton health care proposal would increase the number of insured individuals and decrease consumers' health spending relative to current law. However, the policies with the largest coverage gains also increase the federal deficit the most.
The Affordable Care Act's expansion of coverage for people under age 26 led to a 1-percent reduction in uninsurance, equating to a 0.8-percent decrease in workers' compensation claim frequency, and a roughly 1-percent decrease in overall claim costs.
People who do not understand health insurance concepts, or the financial concepts associated with health insurance, are more likely to remain uninsured.
The likelihood that mothers with private health insurance would start breastfeeding increased by 2.5 percentage points after the Affordable Care Act mandated the coverage of lactation support services.
In this Perspective, the authors explore why medical device innovation has traditionally focused on improving performance, with little regard to cost. They argue that new incentives in the health care sector, accelerated by the Affordable Care Act, will force device manufacturers to embrace "the end of sexy" and redirect investments from the spectacular toward the prudent. They explore consequences for manufacturers, investors, and policymakers.
Addressing persistent structural and policy barriers to adult immunization will benefit all Americans.
Private exchanges offer employer health insurance, combining online shopping, increased plan choice, benefit administration, and cost-containment strategies. This report examines how private exchanges function, how they may affect employers and employees, and the possible implications for the Affordable Care Act's Small Business Health Options Program Marketplaces.
The ACA expands coverage for substance use treatment, but provides no measures for assessing its quality.
Colorectal cancer screening is one of the few cancer screenings with an A rating from the US Preventive Services Task Force, meaning that the procedure confers a substantial health benefit.
The Affordable Care Act implements the employer mandate, which requires firms with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance or face penalties, and the individual "affordability firewall," which limits subsidies to individuals lacking access to alternative sources of coverage that are "affordable." This report examines the policy impacts of the affordability firewall and investigates two potential modifications.
The Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac tax" consists of a 40-percent excise tax on premiums for employer-sponsored health plans in excess of a dollar limit. This report uses RAND's COMPARE microsimulation model to compare the effects of the Cadillac tax versus an alternative tax, based on an exclusion gap, on families in different income ranges.
