Health Policy Debate
Health Policy Debate Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Overview: In this section we provide timely commentary on hot topics in health policy. We will consider different questions as relevance rises and falls.
Health Policy Timeline
Health Policy Timeline Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Health Policy Timeline: This information was provided by HealthCare.gov beginning with the passage of the Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March 2010. Please note that the timeline is organized so that the most current update is at the top. March 1, 2012 - Understanding and Fighting Health Disparities. Click here for more information. January 1, 2012 [...]
Insurance Markets
Insurance Markets Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Official announcements of progress in setting up state health benefits exchanges can be tracked by monitoring the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO): The Kaiser Family Foundation produces regularly updated briefs tracking exchange implementation progress in the various states: click here for more information. Kaiser Family Foundation also has posted an interesting issue [...]
Unanswered Policy Questions
Unanswered Policy Questions Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Questions that need answering are many. Among the two most important are: (1) How to make guaranteed issue, modified community rating, and other needed insurance market reforms work if the Supreme Court decides the individual mandate is indeed unconstitutional? (2) How can Medicaid provider payment rates be increased without adding strain to tight state budget?
Public Health
Public Health Tuesday, October 16th, 2012PPACA authorized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make grants for communities to improve public health in a variety of creative ways. The following is taken from the CDC website: The Community Transformation Grants (CTG) program will support community-level efforts to reduce chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. [...]
Health Policy Debate Topics
Health Policy Debate Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Debate Item # 1: Is the individual mandate constitutional? See our slider entry for a thorough report of all the issues the supreme court will rule on next spring or summer. Tim Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee, has written a nice summary and explanation of the recent impactful ruling out of the [...]
Delivery Systems
Delivery Systems Tuesday, October 16th, 2012The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) is coordinating most delivery system reform activity pursuant to PPACA. Don Berwick’s NEJM recent piece on the final ACO rule can be found here R. M.J. Bohmer, “The Four Habit of High Value Health Care Organizations,” can be found here David Miller and colleagues’ estimate of the [...]
