Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Job-Based Premiums Stay Flat For 2022, But Increases Expected Ahead
CNN: Health Insurance Premiums At Work Didn't Rise In 2022 Amid Soaring Inflation, But The Good Times Won't Last
Even though the price of gas, groceries and other essentials shot up in 2022, health care premiums for employer-sponsored coverage remained essentially flat, according to a survey released Thursday. Job-based policies for families cost an average of roughly $22,500 in 2022, with workers contributing an average of about $6,100, the Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefit Survey found. That is basically the same as last year. (Luhby, 10/27)
Axios: Premiums Stayed Stable In 2022, But Next Year Expect Increases
It cost an average of $22,463 to cover a family through employer-sponsored health insurance in 2022, according to an annual benefits survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation that found premiums remained relatively flat year-to-year while wages and inflation surged. (Dreher, 10/27)
More on health insurance coverage and rates —
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Health Insurance Rates Will Increase For Many In 2023
Prices for people who buy health insurance on their own are set to increase next year in Colorado — but not quite by as much as initially proposed. (Ingold, 10/26)
KHN: Montana Backs Away From Innovative Hospital Payment Model. Other States Are Watching.
Montana is signaling it might step away from an innovative way of setting the prices its public employee health plan pays hospitals for services, an approach that has saved the state millions of dollars and become a model for health plans nationwide. The plan gained national renown among employers and health care price reform advocates when, in 2016, it established maximum amounts the health plan would pay for all inpatient and outpatient services. Those amounts were pegged to Medicare reimbursement rates. The adoption of that model, known as reference-based pricing, has saved the state tens of millions of dollars. Taxpayers help fund the medical plan, which insures public employees and their families, for a total of about 28,800 people. (Houghton, 10/27)
Houston Chronicle: HHS Secretary Becerra Touts Rise In ACA Coverage Among Black, Latino Populations In Houston Visit
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday visited Houston to shed light on a recent rise in Affordable Care Act insurance coverage in the Black and Latino population nationwide, and to encourage Texans to find a health plan when open enrollment starts Nov. 1. (Gill, 10/26)
On Medicaid and Medicare —
Politico: Why Medicaid Is Blocking Patient Home Monitoring
Many state Medicaid offices are stymieing the use of remote patient care, refusing coverage for low-income residents who suffer from chronic diseases at higher rates than Americans with private insurance, POLITICO’s Ruth Reader reports. Even as successive administrations have touted remote patient monitoring programs as a key to improving Americans’ health and reducing unnecessary government spending, many states have declined to pay for them. (Mahr, Payne, Banco and Leonard, 10/26)
Bloomberg: Some States Push To Limit Health Coverage For Poor Children
About 4 million children in the US have no health insurance. That’s about 5% of Americans 18 and younger. The number of uninsured kids declined for years, until it began edging up at the end of the 2010s. New research blames that reversal on state policies that made it harder to get safety-net coverage. That’s likely to have useful lessons for the year ahead. ... The debate over who should be permitted to get Medicaid, the safety-net insurance for low-income families, has largely been on hold since the Covid-19 pandemic. (Tozzi, 10/26)
Fierce Healthcare: CMS To Restrict Medicare Advantage TV Ads Amid High Complaints
Starting next year, insurers will not be able to air any television ads for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans before getting approval from federal regulators. The new requirement is part of a larger effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to address concerns in MA marketing practices. The new effort, announced in a memo released Oct. 19, comes as a Senate panel is also investigating how MA plans reach customers. (King, 10/26)
