Useful Articles and Reports
Articles
Health care enrollment time extended
2/25/15 – Marylanders who get dinged with a tax penalty this year because they didn’t realize federal law requires everyone to have health insurance will get extra time to enroll in a plan. Read all about it from this article in the Baltimore Sun.
Here’s what the Maryland health exchange will be doing instead of rebuilding its site
2/23/15 – Read the full Baltimore Business Journal article about what Maryland Health Connection will be up to this year.
For Tens of Millions, Obamacare Is Working
2/21/15 – Ever since President Obama unveiled his health care plan in 2009, critics have questioned its lofty promise to bring affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. Read the full NY Times article.
Insured, but Not Covered
2/7/15 – Elisabeth Rosenthal highlights the challenges of the ACA and the need to continue our work on health care reform – a must read. Read the full NY Times article.
What would happen if the Supreme Court dismembers Obamacare
1/9/15 – The Urban Institute has gamed out what would happen if the justices ended health insurance subsidies for people in 34 states, a plausible result from the court’s current term. Urban’s results, released Thursday, predict a national policy disaster. Read the full article.
Maryland health exchange shoppers have 53 choices but a clear favorite
1/9/15 – A total of 22,150 people had bought the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’sm BlueChoice HSA Silver $1,300, as of Jan. 4. Read the full article.
The cost of changing Obamacare’s full-time worker threshold: More uninsured, bigger deficits
1/7/15 – About 1 million fewer Americans would receive health insurance coverage through employers if Congress changes the Affordable Care Act’s definition of a full-time employee from 30 hours a week to 40 hours. Read the full article.
Sharfstein preparing for leadership role at Johns Hopkins University
1/4/15 – The start of the new year marks a new beginning for Joshua Sharfstein. Maryland’s top health official has left his government job, and Monday morning, he will walk into his new office at the Johns Hopkins University. Read the full article.
Morning Plum: A SCOTUS decision gutting Obamacare could cause widespread disruptions
1/2/15 – One of the big, looming questions of 2015 is this: Will the Supreme Court really gut Obamacare subsidies in the three dozen states on the federal exchange, potentially depriving millions of health coverage at a moment when the law, now heading into its second year, is clearly working as intended? Read the full Washington Post article.
Reports and Media
State of Enrollment: Helping America Get Covered and Stay Covered, 2014 – 2015
2/19/15 – This report captures Enroll America’s most important lessons learned from the second open enrollment period, based on the latest data from the coalition’s outreach campaign that contacted more than 6 million consumers. Read the full report.
Supporting Informed Decision-Making in the Health Insurance Marketplace
2/11/15 – A key goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to create an insurance market in which consumers would have the ability to compare coverage options across standardized criteria and identify the plan that best meets their families’ health care needs. Read the full report.
Earlier Access to Care for Uninsured Women Living with HIV
2/9/15 – The Medicaid program has traditionally served as an important safety-net program for low-income women living with HIV/AIDS; however, the categorical requirements for Medicaid have excluded many individuals from coverage. Read the full report.
Access to Psychiatrists in 2014 Qualified Health Plans
1/2015 – The report details the difficulties Marylanders encounter when they attempt to contact psychiatrists or make an appointment. MHAMD performed this study to assess the accuracy and adequacy of the psychiatric networks of commercial insurers. The 2014 Qualified Health Plans (QHP) sold through the Maryland Health Connection were chosen for analysis because they are the only network listings that are public. Read the full report.
The Path to a People-Centered Health System: Next Generation Consumer Health Advocacy
1/2015 – Millions of Americans now have access to health coverage and care thanks to the ACA. However, a significant challenge remains: Our health system is notable for its excessive prices, variable quality, inefficiency, health inequities and lack of people-centeredness. At the same time, there’s a rapid transformation underway in our health care financing and delivery system that was accelerated by the ACA. There is growing awareness among consumer advocates that they must turn their attention to this next phase of health reform – “health system transformation” – to ensure the impact of these changes is positive for consumers. Read the report.
Trends in Coverage, Medical Debt, and Access to Care
1/15/15 – Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2014.