Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Costs: 'The Big Honking Problem'
Axios: The Relentless High Prices Of Private Health Care
The pandemic disrupted nearly every facet of health care. But it hasn't changed the way hospitals, doctors, drug companies and other health care firms continue to charge employer health plans — and workers — whatever they want. "The big honking problem is the prices that are being paid in the commercial sector," said Mark Miller, the former head of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission who is now at Arnold Ventures. Annual per-person spending growth for workplace health insurance has exceeded the spending growth among Medicare and Medicaid patients in nine of the past 13 years, according to federal data. (Herman, 2/25)
Axios: Workers Have To Pay More Upfront For Care
As employers struggle to tame health care's market power, they have used the tools of less generous coverage — higher deductibles, copays and coinsurance — to offset some of the rising premiums. Workers are increasingly finding their health insurance doesn't feel like insurance. The average single worker's deductible has tripled since 2006, and 30% of all companies now have annual deductibles of $2,000 or more, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Herman, 2/25)
On employers and health costs and coverage —
Axios: Companies Don't Agree On Health Coverage Reforms
Employers support reforming how workplace health care is paid for and covered, but various coalitions don't agree on the details or how significant changes would actually be. "None of us are going to say that this is a perfect system. There's a lot of frustration," said Jim Klein, CEO of the American Benefits Council, a lobbying group that advocates for corporate health benefits. "But compared to any alternatives, this system has earned a lot of trust." (Herman, 2/25)
Axios: Hospitals And Doctors Hold Leverage Over Employers
The failure of Haven — the joint venture among Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — is the most recent example of how employers lack the clout to push back against the market power of increasingly consolidated systems of hospitals, doctors and other medical providers. "Even big employers aren't big enough within a market to really be able to negotiate down prices, especially with the must-have providers," said Emily Gee, a health economist at the Center for American Progress and former federal official. (Herman, 2/25)
Axios: Employers Aren't Really Sophisticated At Buying Health Coverage
Even after decades of being health care purchasers, companies ranging from small shops to Fortune 500 companies may not fully understand the health coverage they're buying and often pay more as a result. "Employers have been forced to look around and assemble this hodgepodge of vendors," said François de Brantes, a senior vice president at Signify Health. "The vast majority don't have sophisticated benefit teams." (Herman, 2/25)
Also —
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Democrats Champion Paid Family And Medical Leave, Vowing: ‘It’s Going To Pass This Year’
Maryland Senate Democrats rallied Thursday in support of creating a statewide paid family and medical leave program, with Senate President Bill Ferguson vowing that legislation to create the program is “going to pass this year.” The show of support adds political momentum to a proposal that’s drawn support from progressives in past years but stalled in the Maryland General Assembly in recent years over concerns about how to fund it. House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones previously listed passing a paid family and medical leave program among her top priorities for this year’s legislative session. (Stole, 2/24)
