Health Insurance Snapshot for 2009

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…

Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement

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…

Is Medicare cost growth slowing?

Ezra Klein reports that this may in fact be the case according to S&P Healthcare Economics. “This chart shows per-patient Medicare revenue falling to a 2.5 percent growth rate, the lowest since S&P Indices started tracking numbers six years ago. At the very top of the this chart you see the ‘commercial index’ — which…

Medicare Dashboards

For which drugs does Medicare spend the most money?  For which inpatient hospital treatments does Medicare have the highest expenses.  CMS’s new Dashboards provide an easy to use source to access these high level summary statistics.  You can find this information here: Medicare Inpatient Hospital Dashboard (website, description) Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Dashboard (website, description)…

Healthcare Maps from RAC

The Rural Assistance Center (RAC) works with the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES) to create a variety of access to care maps. For some reason, I love maps.  Today, I will show you a few which may peek your interest. More maps below…