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Health Insurance Benefit Design

Commentary

How Would the House Health Care Plan Affect People with Pre-Existing Conditions?

The American Health Care Act would guarantee that individuals with pre-existing conditions could enroll in insurance even if they had a coverage lapse. But there is no guarantee that this coverage would be affordable, and coverage of some essential health benefits could be excluded.

May 28, 2017
Report

The Effects of the American Health Care Act

The American Health Care Act would have reduced insurance enrollment by an estimated 14.2 million people in 2020 and by 19.7 million people by 2026. The uninsured would have been older, sicker, and poorer than those currently uninsured. Also, the AHCA would have increased the deficit by $38 billion in 2020 while reducing it by $5 billion in 2026.

May 3, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Donald Trump's Health Care Reform Proposals: Anticipated Effects on Insurance Coverage, Out-of-Pocket Costs, and the Federal Deficit

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.

Nov 4, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Hillary Clinton's Health Care Reform Proposals: Anticipated Effects on Insurance Coverage, Out-of-Pocket Costs, and the Federal Deficit

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.

Nov 4, 2016
Report

Implementing a Drug Formulary for California's Workers' Compensation Program

This report supports the California Division of Workers' Compensation's efforts to establish a drug formulary by comparing existing workers' compensation formularies and analyzing options for designing and implementing the formulary.

Aug 25, 2016
Journal Article

Prescription Drug Use Rises, Out-of-Pocket Spending Drops Among Those Newly Insured Under the ACA

A study of nearly 7 million prescription drug users' experiences provides strong evidence that the Affordable Care Act has increased treatment rates while reducing out-of-pocket spending, particularly for those with certain chronic health conditions.

Aug 19, 2016
Report

Policy Options for Covering High-Cost Cures

Strategic behavior by health insurers could unravel the market for cures for chronic diseases. The cost of these cures is front-loaded, but the benefits build up over time. Thus, insurers might try to delay treatment or avoid patients who need it, in the hope that they change insurers.

May 3, 2016
Journal Article

Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Enrollees Report Less Positive Experiences Than Their Medicare Advantage Counterparts

Medicare enrollees with standalone prescription coverage reported less positive experiences with their plans than their counterparts in Medicare Advantage plans.

Mar 14, 2016
Journal Article

Policy Options for Providing ACA Subsidies

The ACA provides tax subsidies to qualified individuals for purchasing insurance while retaining tax exemptions for contributions to employer-sponsored insurance premiums. There are several options for leveling the financial playing field between the two markets.

Dec 10, 2015
Commentary

The Ramifications of Repealing the Individual Mandate

As part of its goal of near-universal coverage, the Affordable Care Act requires most Americans to obtain insurance or pay a penalty. Repealing that requirement would significantly reduce health insurance enrollment and cause individual market premiums to rise.

Aug 13, 2015
Research Brief

Research Brief

How Does the ACA Individual Mandate Affect Enrollment and Premiums in the Individual Insurance Market?

Describes how removing the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate would affect health insurance premiums and the overall numbered of insured.

Jun 4, 2015
Journal Article

Early Marketplace Enrollees Were Older and Used More Medication

Prescription data on more than one million Marketplace patients shows that those who enrolled earlier were older and used more medication than later enrollees. However, Marketplace enrollees as a whole had lower average drug spending than the employer-sponsored comparison group.

May 29, 2015
Content

The Affordable Care Act in Depth

In-depth exploration of the Affordable Care Act, with emphasis on related RAND Health research.

Apr 8, 2015
Research Brief

How Would Alternative Subsidy Structures Affect Stability in the ACA Individual Market?

Subsidies in the ACA's health insurance exchanges help stabilize the insurance market by encouraging younger, healthier people to stay enrolled in the face of premium hikes. Critics of the current subsidies have proposed alternatives. What effects would these have?

Apr 6, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

Impact of Out-of-Pocket Spending Caps on Financial Burden of Those with Group Health Insurance

Mandated uniform out-of-pocket caps for those with group insurance will benefit very few individuals, and will not result in substantial reductions in financial burden.

Mar 9, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

Comparing Employer-Sponsored and Federal Exchange Plans: Wide Variations in Cost Sharing for Prescription Drugs

Our primary objective was to examine the variability in drug coverage in the exchanges across plan types (health maintenance organization or preferred provider organization) and metal tiers (bronze, silver, gold, and platinum).

Mar 9, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Research Note on Transitions in Out-of-Pocket Spending on Dental Services

The authors analyze correlates of the direction and magnitude of changes in out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for dental care by older Americans over a recent 4-year period.

Feb 26, 2015
Research Brief

How Does Enrollment of Young Invincibles Affect Premiums in the ACA Individual Market?

Using the COMPARE microsimulation model, researchers estimated the effects of reduced enrollment of young adults (invincibles) in the individual health insurance market. Results indicate that reduced enrollment of invincibles is associated with only modest premium increases.

Feb 5, 2015
Research Brief

What If King v. Burwell Had Turned Out Differently?

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Affordable Care Act's subsidies can continue in all states. According to RAND research cited in the court's majority opinion, a different outcome could've resulted in higher premiums and about 8 million uninsured Americans.

Jan 16, 2015
News Release

News Release

Eliminating Subsidies for People to Buy Health Coverage Would Increase Premiums and Number of Uninsured

Eliminating subsidies that help low- and moderate-income people purchase coverage through government-run health insurance marketplaces would sharply boost costs for consumers as much as 43 percent and cause more than 11 million Americans to lose their health insurance.

Oct 21, 2014

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