CHRTlines

The Latest (Not Greatest) on Essential Benefits

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on January 9, 2012

Well, the federal government has spoken about its intent with regard to defining essential benefits, and the answer is: leave it to the states. As Tim Jost notes in his latest blog post, there are some (probably, most) who assumed the Affordable Care Act would result in more uniformity in essential benefits across the country. But instead (no doubt bowing to a perceived political backlash at this time of difficult discourse in Washington, DC) the Obama administration decided to publish guidelines and establish broad parameters for essential benefits without going into the details.

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Tags: health reform, essential benefits, costs, health policy

Let’s just start over?

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on May 31, 2011

I get asked to speak about health reform on a fairly frequent basis. It is actually quite fun, because health reform is so topical and there is always something new going on. I also enjoy the subject because there is always a range of viewpoints in any given audience: from those who strongly advocate for a single payer system to those who think the whole thing should be scrapped. It is interesting to hear the foundations for the various points of view.

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Tags: ACA, health reform, individual mandate, politics

Health Care Reform and the Balancing Act

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on May 23, 2011

With the announcement of  Rep. Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicare into a voucher program and Medicaid into a block grant, contrasting visions of health care reform became very clear.

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Tags: ACA, health reform, Ryan proposal

What do we mean when we say "population health"?

Posted by Nancy Baum on April 25, 2011

Lately I’ve noticed a resurgence of the term “population health” in the health policy literature. It seems to me that the term is being used differently today than in the past, and I wonder how that might affect our ability to actually affect and improve population health.

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Tags: population health, health policy, ACOs, health reform

His story should be history

Posted by Tomi Ogundimu on April 11, 2011

I met a young man last week who lost his job in December of 2009, and despite his best efforts, still hasn’t found another. He told me he had excellent health benefits through his previous employer, but rarely needed to use them. He described himself as a typical young and healthy patient – going in for routine cleanings at the dentist’s office and seeing a primary care physician for nothing worse than a bad cold. Given this, losing his health insurance was not at the top of his worry list when he lost his job.

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Tags: Medicaid, health reform, ACA, uninsured

What Does One Year Mean?

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on March 28, 2011

Well, the polling data are in! And, the results: people are just as confused about health reform today as they were when it passed a year ago; maybe, more so. In fact, 22 percent of those polled by the Kaiser Family Foundation believe health care reform has already been repealed and another 26 percent aren’t sure.

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Tags: ACA, health reform, politics

What are “essential benefits”?

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on March 21, 2011

The Affordable Care Act uses a number of terms that could never have been field tested by a marketing team. One that is very confusing to most people is the term “essential benefits” – a concept key to the way health insurance exchanges will work and the health benefits people will actually get under health reform.

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Tags: ACA, health reform, exchanges

Bipartisan Opportunities in Health Care: the Push for Transparency

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on March 14, 2011

Despite the “Strum und Drang” over health care reform in Congress these days, there is actually some interesting bipartisan activity occurring. While the stridency on health care reform often gets the most notice, the bipartisan activity offers some hope that challenging problems can move forward in a constructive way.

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Tags: health reform, Medicare, politics

Where is it all headed? Politics and Opinions About the Affordable Care Act

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on February 7, 2011

Since the January 31 decision by the Florida court that struck down the entire Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional, there has been endless speculation about what the court ruling means and what will happen next. Some Attorneys General who were party to the lawsuit have asked for an expedited decision by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the law; others have argued that Judge Vinson’s decision in Florida gives the states all the rationale they need to suspend implementation of the law in its entirety. The Senate held a vote on February 2 on the Republican proposal to repeal the law and not surprisingly, the repeal vote lost, 47 to 51 (Republicans voted unanimously for repeal). What is lost in all this focus on the legal and political strategy (especially: the theatrics) around the Affordable Care Act is what American consumers, businesses, and health care entities are actually saying about the law.

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Tags: health reform, politics, ACA, constitutionality, courts

Health Care Reform: Values and Beliefs vs Economics

Posted by Marianne Udow-Phillips on January 24, 2011

Ever since Bill Clinton took a turn at health care reform, the issue has often been discussed as an economic one. Bill Clinton first framed the health reform issue in 1992 before he took office. He had famously kept as a center piece of his campaign the idea that “it’s the economy, stupid” and health care became part of that dialog. He heard from the CEOs of many businesses, including the three Detroit automakers, that they were having a hard time competing in the global economy because they had to bear the cost of health insurance whereas their foreign competitors did not. So, when President Clinton convened his economic summit in Arkansas after he was elected but before he took office, health care was front and center.

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Tags: health reform, politics, health care economics