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Health Care Financing

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Health care systems may be financed in various ways, including through government funding, taxation, out-of-pocket payments, private insurance, and donations or voluntary aid. RAND research explores the effects of corporate and government health care financing policies on such groups as patients, businesses, hospitals, and physician-providers.

Commentary

ACA Subsidies for Higher-Income Families Are Key to Enrolling More Americans

Mar 1, 2021

The House Ways and Means Committee has proposed several insurance reforms in its emergency COVID-19 relief package, including increasing subsidizes and extending subsidies to people with higher incomes. The proposed combined approach is a far more efficient means of covering uninsured Americans than enhancing subsidies only for those who are currently eligible.
Report

Setting U.S. Hospital Prices Could Cut Overall Health Spending by Billions

Feb 18, 2021

Price regulations face political obstacles and have been strongly opposed by medical providers. But setting prices for all commercial health care payers could reduce hospital spending by $61.9 billion to $236.6 billion a year if the rates were set at 100 to 150 percent of the amounts paid by Medicare.

Explore Health Care Financing

Journal Article

Value-Based Payment and Health Care System Preparedness and Resilience

This report explores issues related to VBP and health system preparedness and resiliency to inform discussions about policy options for jointly promoting value, efficiency, and preparedness in the health care system.

Oct 7, 2021
Report

Claims-Based Reporting of Post-Operative Visits for Procedures with 10- or 90-Day Global Periods: Updated Results Using Calendar Year 2018 Data

The authors of this report summarize patterns of post-operative visits for surgical procedures furnished in 2018 and paid for by Medicare. This report follows an earlier report that summarized these patterns from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.

Sep 14, 2021
Report

Claims-Based Reporting of Post-Operative Visits for Procedures with 10- or 90-Day Global Periods: Updated Results Using Calendar Year 2019 Data

The authors of this report summarize patterns of post-operative visits for surgical procedures furnished in calendar year 2019 and paid for by Medicare. This report follows two earlier reports that summarized these patterns for earlier periods.

Sep 14, 2021
Report

Using Claims-Based Estimates of Post-Operative Visits to Revalue Procedures with 10- and 90-Day Global Periods: Updated Results Using Calendar Year 2019 Data

This report describes how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could use claims-based data on post-operative visits to adjust the valuations of surgical procedures with 10- and 90-day global periods.

Sep 14, 2021
News Release

Republicans May Be Less Likely to Make Use of Federal Subsidies When Buying Individual Health Insurance Policies

Republicans who buy individual health plans may be less likely to shop through marketplaces created under the federal Affordable Care Act, leading them to forgo subsidies provided by the federal government.

Sep 8, 2021
Report

RAND Technical Expert Panel Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings, May 5, 2021 Meeting

The RAND team gathered input from experts about stratified reporting by Part D low-income subsidy (LIS) and dual eligibility (DE), and disability and assessing social risk factors of Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D contract beneficiaries.

Aug 5, 2021
Commentary

Fintech's Role in Reducing Disparities and Financial Barriers to Health Care Access

Given the growing pressures on health care systems globally and the need for innovative approaches to financing health care, the time may be ripe to develop a robust evidence base and share learning on fintech-enabled approaches that could support universal health coverage agendas and healthier and more stable societies.

Jul 26, 2021
Journal Article

Translating Economic Evaluations Into Financing Strategies for Implementing Evidence-Based Practices

We use three case examples to illustrate the importance of implementation financing strategies, which secure and direct funds to support Evidence-Based Practices adoption and continued use.

Jul 14, 2021
Commentary

How COVID-19 Lessons Can Transform U.S. Mental Health Care

It would be a powerful conclusion to the pandemic if Americans reimagined a health system that was resilient against future threats, including the resulting psychological trauma. Policymakers have the opportunity now to cut short the pandemic's long tail of mental illness by taking decisive action.

Jun 2, 2021
Journal Article

Developing Health Equity Measures

This work identified existing approaches to health equity measurement and evaluated those approaches using input from an expert panel.

May 21, 2021
Research Brief

Reducing Hospital Spending: Three Policy Options

RAND researchers have estimated the effects of policy options to reduce hospital prices paid by private health plans, outlining design choices and effectiveness levels for each approach.

Apr 21, 2021
Report

Barriers to Price and Quality Transparency in Health Care Markets

RAND researchers gathered information on how health care prices are set, price variation in health care markets, barriers to price and quality transparency for consumers, and the extent to which price and quality information is used in marketing.

Apr 19, 2021
Report

RAND Technical Expert Panel Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings, November 12, 2020 Meeting

On November 12, 2020, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) web meeting to gather input about social risk factors and approaches for ensuring accurate performance measurement.

Mar 16, 2021
Report

RAND Technical Expert Panel Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings, November 19, 2020 Meeting

On November 19, 2020, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) web meeting to gather input about stratified reporting of performance and approaches to reduce disparities in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contracts.

Mar 16, 2021
Blog

Vaccine Hesitancy, Sexual Misconduct in the U.S. Military, the Iran Nuclear Deal: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Black Americans’ vaccine hesitancy, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the U.S. military, rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, and more.

Mar 5, 2021
News Release

Bundled Payments for Surgical Procedures With Copay Waivers Creates Substantial Cost Savings

Providing patients discounts for using medical providers that agree to charge one set price for expensive procedures such as knee replacement surgery can result in savings for both patients and payers.

Mar 1, 2021
Research Brief

10Plan, How Would It Affect Health Care Spending by Consumers and the Federal Government

The 10Plan is a self-pay plan for individuals currently uninsured or covered by a private nongroup health insurance plan. The authors built a microsimulation model to estimate health care spending under both the status quo and the 10Plan.

Feb 25, 2021
News Release

Setting Hospital Prices Can Achieve Greater Savings Than Increasing Competition or Price Transparency

Among strategies to curb hospital prices among the commercially insured population in the United States, direct price regulations such as setting rates are likely to achieve greater savings than other approaches like increasing competition or improving price transparency.

Feb 18, 2021
Journal Article

Trends in Low-Value Health Service Use and Spending in the US Medicare Fee-for-Service Program, 2014–2018

Among individuals with fee-for-service Medicare receiving any of 32 measured services, low-value care use and spending decreased marginally from 2014 to 2018.

Feb 18, 2021

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