In Setback To State Efforts To Control Costs, Mass. Health Spending Soars
Massachusetts' health spending was $632 million more last year than it was supposed to be and increased at a rate much higher than that of inflation, according to a new report. Much of the boost was attributed to Medicaid costs.
The Boston Globe:
Mass. Health Spending Rises, Led By Medicaid Costs
The soaring costs of insuring the state’s poorest residents drove health care spending in Massachusetts up 4.8 percent last year, double the rate of growth in 2013, dealing a setback to the state’s efforts to contain medical costs. The increase far exceeds inflation, which was 1.6 percent last year, and blows past a state goal of holding health care spending growth to 3.6 percent annually, according to a report to be issued Wednesday by the state Center for Health Information and Analysis. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/1)
WBUR:
A Mass. Miss: 2014 Health Care Spending Rises Faster Than Goal
Massachusetts spent $632 million more on health care last year than it was supposed to, according to a report from the state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis. The goal, established via a 2012 law, is to keep health care spending in line with the rising costs of other goods and services. Every year the state sets a benchmark. In 2013 — the first year of accountability — Massachusetts stayed well under the cap. But last year, spending shot right past the 3.6 percent target and hit $54 billion, a 4.8 percent increase over the previous year. (Bebinger, 9/2)
The Associated Press:
Health Care Costs In Massachusetts Surged In 2014
The cost of health care soared nearly 5 percent in Massachusetts last year, despite efforts to hold costs down. The state Center for Health Information and Analysis said Tuesday that costs grew in 2014 at double the rate of 2013 and far higher than the inflation rate. (9/2)
News outlets also cover rising state health costs in Colorado and Pennsylvania -
The Denver Post:
Medicaid Drives Big Increase In Colorado Health Insurance Coverage
A record number of Colorado residents now carry health insurance. Statewide, the uninsured rate plummeted from 14.3 percent in 2013 to 6.7 percent this year — the lowest ever, according to a report being released Tuesday. Nearly 5 million people are covered now. The increase is attributable to a dramatic growth in Medicaid enrollment following Colorado's decision to raise income eligibility limits and allow unmarried adults to qualify, an option available to states under the federal Affordable Care Act. (Olinger, 9/1)
The Associated Press:
Wolf Administration Wraps Up Overhaul Of Medicaid Benefits
The Wolf administration said Tuesday that it had completed the transfer of more than 1 million adult Medicaid enrollees into a single, new benefits package it had created as the program expands to record numbers under the 2010 federal health care law. The process that the Human Services Department finished included the dismantling of changes that Gov. Tom Wolf's predecessor had sought to make to Medicaid coverage as part of Pennsylvania's embrace of the Medicaid expansion. (Levy, 9/1)
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that fewer Americans are skipping health care because of cost concerns and Marketplace examines how a new Federal Communications Commission ruling is impacting medical debt collection -
The Washington Post:
Fewer Americans Skipping Medical Care For Cost Reasons
During the first three months of the year, just 1 in 20 Americans said they did not get medical care they needed because they could not afford it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings, from the federal National Health Interview Survey, show that 4.4 percent of people interviewed from January through March said they had skipped medical care in the previous year because of its cost -- the lowest percentage in 16 years. The percent skipping care for cost reasons had reached nearly 7 percent in 2009 and 2010 and has been shrinking since then. (Goldstein, 9/1)
Marketplace:
Medical Debt Collectors Up In Arms Over FCC Ruling
Twenty-seven million Americans were contacted by a collection agency about unpaid medical bills last year. A new Federal Communications Commission ruling makes it more difficult to track down those debtors on their cell phones, according to the collection industry. The new rule clarifies that collection agencies can "robo-call" someone on a cell, but only if that person consented to those calls for billing issues. (Gorenstein, 9/1)
