Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Many researchers use household data sources to examine a variety of hypothesis. The use of household data has many benefits including allowing for more detailed socioeconomic information (e.g., education, income) beyond what is contained in administrative claims files. One drawback of household data is that extrapolations made from household survey data may not match national…
Nine million individuals qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid health insurance. These individuals, known as dual-eligibles, rank among the most expensive Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Duals are frequently hospitalized and often need long-term care. In fact, most state spending for dual eligibles focuses on long-term care supports and services. The federal government pays the bulk…
In short, yes. California is the land of managed care. Kaiser-Permanente–the managed care poster child–owns one third of the market. Love for managed care is not just in the private market; in 2010, over half of all Medi-Cal and more than one-third of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans. Further, California managed care…
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…
According to Avalere Health the people who will be added to Medicaid through healthcare reform are more sick — and therefore will be more expensive to treat — than current beneficiaries. This chart below uses data from the 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to demonstrate this point.
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…
President Obama released a proposal last week to jump start the economy and reduce the deficit. The proposal includes many cuts to Medicare and increased cost sharing. Senators Coburn and Lieberman are supporting these cuts. Increased cost sharing is a common theme in Medicare, Medicaid, but also for other programs as well. For instance, the…
One of the goals of health reform was to expand coverage to poor childless adults who previously did not qualify for Medicaid. One unintended (or perhaps intended) consequence of this expansion is that a large number of individuals formerly convicted of crimes will be eligible for the this coverage. Policymakers face a number of questions. …
A RAND HIE for Medicaid? “In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery to be given the chance to apply for Medicaid…In the year after random assignment, the treatment group selected by the lottery was about 25 percentage points more likely to have insurance than the control group that…
As the economy worsened, Medicaid enrollment has risen. In the short-run, however, States have been able to avoid large increases in Medicaid spending because the Federal government has footed the tab. According to the HHS: “Over the past three years, despite rising enrollment due to the economic recession, nationwide State spending on the Medicaid program…