Over the past several days, HHS announced that the Affordable Care Act has already saved consumers about $2.1 billion through rebates and lower premiums; the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust released the 2012 employer Health Benefits Survey, which found that annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose by 4 percent; and the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2011 findings on health insurance coverage in the United States showing that 15.7 percent of Americans were without health insurance.
AT THE AGENCIES
New analysis from HHS finds that the Affordable Care Act’s reforms have already saved consumers about $2.1 billion in the form of lower premiums and rebates. HHS attributes this, in part, to the rate-review provision of ACA, which has required insurance companies planning to raise premium rates by 10 percent or more in the individual and small group markets to justify the need for the raise.
According to a report published in The Journal of American Medicine, Medicare spending varied widely among 10 physician groups that participated in a demo of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). On average, Medicare spending for dual eligibles declined by $532 annually in the five-year accountable care pilot.
On Tuesday (9/12), the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2011 findings on health insurance coverage in the United States. According to the census, 15.7 percent of Americans remain without health insurance, a reduction of 1.4 million from the 2010 to 2011 census.
According to a report from the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, CMS finalized its rules governing the second phase of the agency’s Electronic Health Record incentive penalty program. The report says that physicians must use ‘certified’ EHRs that meet CMS standards in at least 50 percent of their patient encounters to qualify as “meaningful users” of EHRs, and without certification, physicians cannot receive incentive payments or avoid penalties.
IN THIRD PARTIES
On Tuesday (9/13), The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust released the 2012 employer Health Benefits Survey, which found that annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage saw a 4 percent increase from last year. Last year, the same report showed an increase of 9 percent.
According to findings from Mercer’s annual health benefits survey, which are scheduled to be released in November, 58 percent of employers (large, medium and small) say they plan to increase employee contributions for health insurance next year.
This week, four months before the sequester is supposed to kick in under the 2011 Budget Control Act, the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association released a report predicting that the 2 percent cuts to Medicare providers included in the budget sequester will cause up to 766,000 health care and health-related jobs to be lost by 2021.
A new report by the Institute of Medicine, released on September 6, titled “Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning, Health Care in America,” estimates that roughly 30 percent of health care spending in 2009 (about $750 billion), was wasted on unnecessary or poorly delivered services and other needless costs.
IN THE STATES
The Affordable Care Act set aside $10 billion for health care preventative measures. A relatively large portion of this fund, $790,000 a year for five years, went to Oklahoma City.
On Thursday (9/6), Governor Matt Mead announced that Wyoming will not meet the deadline under ACA by which states are supposed to establish a health insurance exchange. At a regularly scheduled press conference, Gov. Mead told reporters the state cannot make an informed decision because he has not received responses to a series of questions he submitted to Secretary Sebelius.
On Tuesday (9/4), after CMS denied Maine an expedited review of its earlier request to lower Medicaid eligibility, the state’s attorney general, William Schneider, filed a request in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston requesting that the court order CMS to either approve the plan or pay Maine’s share for coverage of those individuals the state is trying to remove from the program.
On Tuesday (9/4), the state of Kansas launched a website designed to answer questions about KanCare, Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan for using managed care companies to remake the state’s Medicaid program. The website also includes a link to help Medicaid providers sign up with the managed care companies that will be administering KanCare.
IN THE ELECTION
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he would replace President Obama’s health care law with his own plan while keeping some of ACA’s more popular provisions, such as coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.
During the Democratic National Convention, Democrats spoke of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits. First Lady Michelle Obama said that her husband pushed for enactment of ACA “because he believes that here in America, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine; our kids should be able to see a doctor when they’re sick; and no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or illness.” Secretary Sebelius said that “Republicans may see Romneycare as a scarlet letter, but for Democrats, Obamacare is a badge of honor.”
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.