Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. It is a time to celebrate the service of current and former members of the military. Although military veterans garner a lot of attention around Memorial Day, some veterans are not having their needs met the rest of the year. A recent study, for instance, finds that many veterans…
Although executives and managers lead the way, in large part, the answer is doctors. See the chart below. Sources: John Bakija, Williams College “Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data.” November 2010, Working Paper. Hat tip: Mother Jones.
Each year, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) examines trends in employer health benefits in the state of California. Last year, I reported on the 2010 CHCF report and now I will examine the 2011 report. Between 2010 and 2011, some things have remained the same. Healthcare premiums are far outpacing inflation over the medium…
Although Health Reform has passed, many of its mandates–such as Health Insurance Exchanges–have not yet been implemented. As the cost of health care has been growing over time, the number of uninsured has also been growing. The California Health Care Foundation examines the uninsured in California in more detail. Although Texas has the highest share…
The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF)’s Health Care Almanac provides some unique insights on trends in health care quality in California and for the United States as a whole. Many of the national figures for the Almanac come from the CDC (BRFSS and Vital Stats) and AHRQ’s National Healthcare Quality Report. California quality figures come…
Of the 6.6 million uninsured children in the nation, 4.3 million are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Approximately 2.8 million children come from families at or near the federal poverty line (FPL). Despite the fact that millions of children are uninsured, children’s participation rates in Medicaid/CHIP are increasing. Today I…
There are approximately 265 million individuals in the United States under age 65 in 2009. Using the 2010 March Current Population Survey (CPS) data, the employee benefits research institute provides the insurance coverage breakdowns. Employer-sponsored group plan: 156.1 million (59.0 percent) Insurance bought directly from insurer on individual market: 16.7 million (6.3 percent) Medicaid: 44.1…
CMS has a wealth of publicly available summary statistics regarding enrollment, spending, treatment patterns, cost sharing and other topics for both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. This information can be accessed through the Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement website. The site includes statistics on the following topics: Personal Health Care Expenditures Medicare Enrollment Medicare Program Payments…
Many health policy researchers talk about bending the cost curve; this means reducing the rate of health care spending below GDP growth. U.S. health spending, however, has consistently grown faster than GDP for nearly a century. Woodward and Wang show that this relationship is surprisingly stable over time, even after the advent of large government…
The CMS Chronic Condition Data Warehouse (CCW) provides researchers with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiary, claims, and assessment data linked by beneficiary across the continuum of care. The files also use ICD-9 codes and other information to identify the chronic condition each beneficiary has. The question is, how well does the CCW identify these chronic conditions?…