Letter from the Editor

This issue of RAND Health Quarterly includes several studies that address the impacts and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Auerbach et al. describe how the ACA could affect auto insurance, workers' compensation, and medical malpractice liability insurance claim costs. While they predict that impacts will be modest in the short term, they discuss the potential for more significant impacts over time as the ACA's anticipated long-term impacts on physician supply, tort law, health care delivery, and payment evolve. Mattke et al. discuss how the ACA requires health plans to disclose summaries of benefits and coverage and present results from an environmental scan of quality measures and decision tools available to employers selecting between plans.

In the area of military health, Ramchand et al. study the military caregivers who provide care for wounded, ill, and injured military personnel and veterans. They describe the extent of military caregiving, share details of current programs and policies to support military caregivers, and outline key features of approaches to improve support. Cerully et al. survey alumni from the Wounded Warrior Project who have all experienced physical or mental health conditions related to their service. They find that this population experiences high rates of physical, mental, and economic challenges.

Several studies address the prevention of suicide, including a study of the preferred resources that individuals use when they have suicidal thoughts or feelings, a description of differences in exposure to suicide prevention messaging and confidence in interventions with persons at risk of suicide across racial and ethnic groups, and evaluations of theatrical and mass media programs aiming to reduce the stigma of mental illness and educate the public about suicide warning signs.

Other studies focus on payment for medical care in workers' compensation, the health care systems in China and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, the current extent and future promise of "real world" effectiveness data in Europe, aging and pensions in Mexico, the impacts and return on investment from genomics and cancer research, value-based purchasing, and long-term dementia care.

Andrew W. Mulcahy, Ph.D., M.P.P., Editor