The coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act brings new pressures and opportunities for health centers, including the potential to serve newly-insured patients while continuing as a cornerstone of the primary care safety net for the uninsured. At the same time, health centers are in the midst of rapid transformation brought about in part by recent federal investments in health center capacity and delivery system improvements, even as they face uncertainty about future state and federal funding.
To date, about half of states have moved forward with the Affordable Care Act’s optional Medicaid expansion. Now, additional states are pursuing an altogether different path that would allow them to use federal Medicaid funds to help low-income residents buy private coverage. Arkansas, Michigan and Iowa have already received federal Medicaid waivers and launched programs. Others are in various stages of drafting and negotiating. A few are considering block grants.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains several provisions that address access to community based services for the 4.5 million people in the U.S. with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Many of these provisions are aimed at balancing the array of services between those offered in institutions and those in the community.
Health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, opened October 1, and while states have released some enrollment data, and much of the attention has been on the initial technical challenges, there has been less information about overall consumer experience.
The Toolkit, available here, details the ACA’s employer requirements and penalty. It also includes information about the delay in the mandate to 2015, and analysis about its impact on employer-based coverage. The Toolkit includes: key facts about the employer mandate; data about trends in employment-based health coverage; links to news articles and reports explaining and analyzing the issue; health care experts who understand the issue and its implications, along with contact info.
The Alliance for Health Reform answers key questions about the insurance marketplaces that opened for enrollment October 1 in this new FAQ, available here. The document also provides links to websites that go into detailed explanations of how the law and the exchanges work. Some links point directly to state marketplaces and other government resources.
Beginning October 1, insurance marketplaces open for enrollment, and millions of people will be eligible to purchase plans. To guide them in the application process, the federal government has invested in programs to train community organizations and hired staff. Most of the money has gone to so-called navigators and assisters, which are tasked with helping individuals, families and small businesses compare and contrast plans, identify what type of financial assistance may be available and help complete and send application forms for insurance.
More than a third of Pioneer ACOs succeeded in reducing costs in Medicare in their first year, according to a recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report. The program initially saved Medicare about $87 million and cut Medicare spending by 0.5 percent.
The Association of Health Care Journalists’ DC Chapter and the Alliance for Health Reform will hold a reporters’ roundtable, for reporters only, on Covering the ACA Marketplaces.
This Alliance for Health Reform webinar gave you the latest on what insurance rates will look like when state insurance exchanges open for enrollment on October 1.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets October 1, 2013 as opening day for enrollment in health insurance plans through marketplaces, or exchanges. The law allowed states to choose between running their own exchanges or having the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) run a federally facilitated exchange.
Sixty-two million Americans live in rural areas and they have higher rates of mortality, disability and chronic disease than their urban counterparts. With high poverty and unemployment rates, low rates of health insurance coverage and an undersupply of health care providers, the ills of the health care system are especially notable in rural communities. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains provisions relating to access to care, coverage and delivery system reform. But the impact of these provisions is uncertain in rural America, with its unique challenges.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance for Health Reform on Tuesday, June 18 held a special event to explore the challenges that Pennsylvania and New Jersey face this year leading up to the 2014 health law changes. This year the giant health law begins to move into its most climactic phase. Tens of millions of people are about to get health insurance, and this meeting will help reporters understand the epic challenges ahead.
The federal government has launched demonstration projects to test whether patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) can tackle some of the biggest problems facing the nation’s health care system. Advocates are holding out hope that medical homes will help to slow the growth of health care spending while improving the quality of care. The medical home is a model that aims to transform the organization and delivery of primary care. The PCMH model focuses on personalized care, teamwork, and coordination of care to ensure that patient needs are met effectively and efficiently. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides opportunities for the PCMH model by supporting nationwide medical home demonstration projects administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
An April 26 briefing, ACA 101: What You Need to Know, was intended to be especially helpful to congressional staff members and others with limited knowledge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), but also to be a useful review for anyone dealing with the complex issues leading up to major changes scheduled to take effect in 2014.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) calls for increased consumer involvement in health care decision-making. Transparency in price and quality as a tool for consumer engagement is a critical component of that process. One does not buy food, clothing or housing without comparison shopping. Yet in health care, equally important and typically a large part of the family budget, consumers have not had the tools to compare prices and quality of the product they are buying. The data are spotty and the little data that are available are not consumer friendly.
