Issue Brief Looks at Employer Support of Massachusetts Health Insurance Law; Kaiser Family Foundation Updates Medicare Tool

• "Massachusetts Health Reform: High Costs and Expanding Expectations May Weaken Employer Support," Center for Studying Health System Change: The issue brief -- written by Debra Draper, a senior fellow at the center, and colleagues -- finds that Massachusetts has made "remarkable progress in improving access to health care coverage," but the absence of additional cost containment efforts could "ultimately prove to be the undoing of Massachusetts' historic coverage initiative" (HSC release, 10/31).
  
  
• "Medicare Health and Prescription Drug Plan Tracker," Kaiser Family Foundation: The Kaiser Family Foundation has updated its interactive online resource with new 2009 Medicare Advantage data and 2008 Medicare prescription drug plan enrollment data. The tool provides stand-alone prescription drug information nationally and by state, and data on MA plans is available by region and county. The resource can be used to monitor trends in MA plans since 1999 and for Medicare drug plans since their inception in 2006 (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 10/31).