Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: To Regulate Health Care Or Not? Not So Fast With Assumptions
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Healthcare Regulation, Too Much And Often Wrong
The unstated working assumption related to regulatory activities in healthcare is that once all healthcare providers are doing everything precisely the same way we will have perfect care, exceptional quality and the lowest cost. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. (Howard Peterson, 6/4)
The Washington Post: Health Care Is Still A Mess. Republicans Are Making It Worse.
The Congressional Budget Office, Congress’s official scorekeeper, released last month a bevy of new projections about health-care coverage in the United States. The upshot is that the nation still faces huge cost and coverage challenges, and Republicans are making some of the direst problems worse. The government spends a whopping $685 billion on nonelderly health coverage, which equals 3.4 percent of the economy. And costs are going up, fast. Federal health-care subsidy spending is set to rise by 6 percent per year for the next decade. This is not a result only of Obamacare subsidies; the federal government spends far more to subsidize the employer-based coverage most Americans get than it does Obamacare’s individual market insurance plans. For all the rancorous debate about the law, only 4 percent of Americans get their coverage on the Obamacare marketplaces. (6/4)
The Wall Street Journal: The ObamaCare Fix For Mom And Pop
The Obama administration sold the Affordable Care Act as a boon to small businesses and the 59 million Americans they employ. It hasn’t worked out that way. ...The answer to these out-of-control costs is to repeal ObamaCare. The House was able to pass a plan; the Senate wasn’t. But hope is not lost. A rule the Labor Department is expected to unveil shortly would greatly expand association health plans. (Tom Price, 6/4)
Stat: Every State Needs A Database With All Health Insurance Claims
California spends approximately $367 billion a year on health care. That’s more than the gross domestic product of South Africa or Denmark. It’s more than the state spends on six years of K-12 education, or 23 years of transportation. In other words, it’s a lot. Many say it’s too much. When you don’t really know where the money is going, or what value it is generating, how can you determine where to save money? That’s a key question for California policymakers. To answer it, the state is taking another look at developing an all-payer claims database. (John Freedman, 6/5)
Tampa Bay Times: Virginia’s Lessons For Florida On Medicaid Expansion
Floridians should not be left behind. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Florida has the third-highest portion of uninsured adults in the nation, at 20.1 percent in 2017. That’s up from 19.8 percent the year before. The average percentage of uninsured adults is more than double in states that have not accepted Medicaid expansion money than in states that have accepted the money. Remember that the federal government will pay 90 percent of the cost of expansion, which could mean roughly $5 billion a year for Florida. And remember that nearly 1 million additional low-income Floridians could receive access to health care. (6/1)
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Editorial: After Medicaid Expansion, What's Next On The Agenda?
Virginia’s political class has been arguing over Medicaid expansion for so long that its accomplishment leaves a policy vacuum in the state. What should come next? (6/4)
