All Articles In 'Tag Archives: 'health costs''
Medicare and Medicaid Spending: Enrollment Growth a Driver for Spending Increases
Much attention has been paid to the federal deficit, and a great deal of this discussion has centered on Medicare and Medicaid spending. As a means for controlling what has been considered “out of control” health [...]
Health Insurance Administrative Expenses: Details on Administrative Expenses of Health Plans in Large Group, Small Group, and Individual Markets
Health insurance plans are required to report their administrative expenses. For health plans in the for the large group, small group, and individual insured markets, an new report from Milliman details insurers’ administrative expenses in five [...]
Essential Health Benefits: Preliminary Analysis of Essential Health Benefits and Potential Benchmark Health Benefit Plans for Virginia
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires benefit plans offer a minimum set of essential health benefits. Those include ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use [...]
Guaranteed Issue and Community Rating Reforms: Actuarial Analysis of Impact on Individual Health Insurance Markets
In previous research, Milliman, one of the nation’s top actuarial firms, provided an overview of the impact made by guaranteed issue and community rating reforms on the health insurance markets within eight states in the 1990s. Retained [...]
Medicare Fee-for-Service Benefits: Impact of Medicare Cost Sharing Changes on Beneficiaries and Budget
Several Medicare reform proposals have concentrated on realigning financial incentives within Medicare’s provider payment and delivery system to improve program cost-effectiveness and quality, a key health policy challenge. There have been calls to modernize Medicare’s fee-for-service [...]
CBO Reports Medicare’s Demonstration Project Results
The Congressional Budget Office’s issue brief, Lessons from Medicare’s Demonstration Projects on Disease Management, Care Coordination, and Value-Based Payment, provides details on the outcome of 10 major Medicare demonstrations following independent researcher evaluation. Demonstrations were conducted [...]
Prescription Drug Pricing: Estimating Generic Drug Cost Savings
Prescription drug spending rose by $135 billion between 2001 and 2010 to comprise approximately 12 percent of the nation’s overall healthcare outlay. While drug expenditure was one of the fastest growing components of U.S. healthcare spending [...]
Prevention: Variation in Cost of Diabetes, Cancer, and Cholesterol Screenings
More than 75 percent of total health care costs cover preventable chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that self-insured employers and health plans provide common, evidence-based wellness screenings [...]
Health Care Spending: Top 5 Most Costly Medical Conditions in the Elderly
A third of U.S. health care expenditures are spent on care for the elderly. In terms of overall medical and drug spending, the top five conditions among the elderly are: Heart conditions Cancer Osteoarthritis and non-traumatic [...]
Hospitalizations for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders: Costs, Length of Stay, Patient Mix, and Payor Mix
New data from AHRQ highlight inpatient hospitalizations for mental health and substance abuse disorders, including costs, length of stay, and payor mix. Overall, the AHRQ statistics show interesting differences between inpatient stays for mental health, substance [...]
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