Report Examines How Access to New Drugs Affects State Disability Rates; Articles Examine Massachusetts Health Insurance Law, Employer-Sponsored Coverage

• "Alive and Working: How Access to Newer Drugs Keeps Americans Off Disability Rolls," Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: In the report, Columbia University business professor Frank Lichtenberg examines prescribing patterns in 49 states from 1995 to 2004 and finds that in states where a higher proportion of drugs with newer active ingredients are prescribed, disability rates rose more slowly, meaning more people were able to earn wages and pay taxes. The report says states should consider how keeping residents healthy now can benefit future safety-net spending (Manhattan Institute release, 10/28).
  
  
• New reports, Health Affairs: The journal Health Affairs published three studies about the effect of the Massachusetts health insurance law on employer-sponsored coverage. The first report, by Jon Gabel of the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center and colleagues, shows that 79% of companies in the state with three or more workers offered health coverage in spring 2008, up from 73% in spring 2007. In the second article, based on surveys of Massachusetts working-age adults, Sharon Long and Paul Masi of the Urban Institute report that there are no indications that employers were tightening eligibility requirements for coverage and that the portion of workers in firms of any size offering coverage remained constant at 90% from fall 2006 to fall 2007. The third article, by Harvard School of Public Health professor of health policy Robert Blendon and colleagues, states that public support for Massachusetts' insurance program remains strong, even for the individual mandate that requires residents purchase insurance if affordable coverage is available (Health Affairs release, 10/28).