California Health Care Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation Join Forces to Produce California Healthline October 9, 2015 News Release OAKLAND and MENLO PARK, CA – The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation have agreed to establish a new partnership that will take over daily publication of California Healthline (CHL) beginning in late January 2016. CHL is the California Health Care Foundation’s free,…
Medicare’s Drug Benefit Is Firmly-Established After Its First Decade, With Flat Premiums in Recent Years but Higher Cost-Sharing Over Time October 6, 2015 News Release With Medicare Part D nearing the end of its tenth year, the program — which now provides drug coverage to 72 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries — has experienced no growth in average premiums in recent years but some notable increases in cost-sharing, according to a new report from the…
Two Substantive Sides to Debate Over Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’ October 2, 2015 News Release In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman says the debate about whether to keep or repeal the Cadillac tax is more than a debate between sound policy and good politics, there are strong substantive arguments on both sides. All previous columns by Drew Altman are…
Public Strongly Favors End-of-Life Conversations Between Doctors and Patients, With About Eight in 10 Saying Medicare and Other Insurers Should Cover These Visits September 30, 2015 News Release Six in 10 Oppose ‘Cadillac Plan Tax’ on High-Cost Health Plans Set to Take Effect in 2018, But Cost Savings Argument Can Change Some Opinions Views on the Affordable Care Act Remain Divided: 45% Unfavorable, 41% Favorable As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services prepares to finalize a plan…
Why Consumer Issues Are Rising on the Health Agenda September 22, 2015 News Release In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman examines the trends that may be leading to a rise in consumer cost issues on the health agenda. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
Employer Family Health Premiums Rise 4 Percent to $17,545 in 2015, Extending a Decade-Long Trend of Relatively Moderate Increases September 22, 2015 News Release Since 2010, Deductibles for All Workers Have Risen Almost Three Times as Fast as Premiums and About Seven Times as Fast as Wages and Inflation Facing New Requirements, Few Employers Make Changes to Workers’ Hours Menlo Park, Calif. – Single and family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of…
How Primary-Care Physicians Are Handling the Influx of Newly Insured September 18, 2015 News Release In his column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Kaiser’s President Drew Altman is joined by The Commonwealth Fund’s President David Blumenthal to discuss the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion on the primary care delivery system. Their analysis is based on the Kaiser-Commonwealth National Survey of…
US Improving in Health Care Quality, But Still Lagging Behind Other Countries, New Analysis Finds September 10, 2015 News Release A new brief on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker finds that the quality of the U.S. health system is improving in many areas, but comparable countries continue to outperform the United States on key measures. Analysts from the Kaiser Family Foundation compiled an overall picture of health care quality in…
New Tracker Monitors Affordable Care Act Preventive Services Coverage September 9, 2015 News Release The Affordable Care Act requires private insurance plans to cover recommended preventive services with no out-of-pocket charges for patients. This slate of covered services can change when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and other authorized groups add or modify recommendations; the federal government also periodically issues clarifications to guide…
Why Higher Drug Costs Are Consumers’ Biggest Cost Worry September 8, 2015 News Release In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses why public concern over drug prices is the “tip of the iceberg” representing broader concerns about out-of-pocket health care costs. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
