Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: End Surprise Bills By Mandating Single Payments; Medicaid Expansion Is Win-Win For All States
Stat: A Simple Solution To Ending 'Surprise' Medical Bills: Bundled Payments
Imagine buying a plane ticket, but the fare only covers your seat, the fuel, the gate attendant, and the peanuts. You have to pay the pilot separately. You are sitting on the plane and, unbeknownst to you, the pilot scheduled to fly your plane is delayed and a pilot from another airline takes over. Because that pilot costs more than the regular pilot, you now have to pay an extra $500. And you only find out weeks later when you get the bill.It sounds like a preposterous scenario. Yet this is the absurd reality in health care and the epidemic of surprise medical bills. (Ateev Mehrotra and Vivian Ho, 11/2)
Stat: Voters Should Seize The Opportunity To Expand Medicaid
Medicaid is a vital program that enables millions of Americans to live healthy lives. It is also an important economic driver, particularly in states that have chosen to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.Take Montana, one of the states in which the health care system I run operates hospitals and clinics. Before Medicaid expansion started in 2016, 15 percent of Montanans lacked health insurance. Today, after expansion, less than 8 percent of them don’t have health insurance. Moreover, the expansion has created 5,000 new jobs and generated nearly $300 million in new personal income for Montana residents. That is an unequivocal success we should all get behind. (Rod Hochman, 11/2)
The Hill: Americans Can’t Afford To Get Sick — And Limited Plans Could Make Things Worse
The federal government announced new rules that would allow states to apply for waivers so they could permit insurers to sell limited health insurance plans that offer bare-bones coverage through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. This comes on the heels of rules released this year allowing insurers to sell short-term and association health plans on the individual market.Some argue this makes sense and that consumers want more affordable insurance options. The problem is that these plans are cheap but, in exchange for low premiums, they cover very little and can leave consumers who need health care with huge unexpected medical bills that they cannot afford to pay. (David Blumenthal, 11/1)
Los Angeles Times: Can How You Vote In The Midterms Bring Down The Cost Of Health Care?
If you’re equally perplexed by whether your vote can influence healthcare prices, here are some things to consider. ... There’s no magic pill to fix these systemic problems or flatten healthcare’s rate of inflation. Political candidates nevertheless vow to cure our healthcare woes (painlessly). The truth is, campaign promises are like babies: easy to make, hard to deliver. Democrats promising “Medicare for all” can’t deliver “free” healthcare because it’ll be too expensive and overtax the middle class. Republicans are promising affordable “short-term” insurance plans that sidestep the Affordable Care Act requirements, but these plans are thin on coverage and big on risk. (Robert Pearl, 11/2)
