2014

How Enrollment Assisters and Health Insurers Can Partner to Better Serve Consumers

Health insurance companies can increase the capacity of enrollment assister programs by providing answers to consumer queries about marketplace plans. As our new issue brief and video explain, par...

How to Make Reference Pricing Work for Consumers

In today’s health care system, prices for medical care often vary greatly—even for the same service (e.g., a colonoscopy) from providers in the same network. And there is little to no correlation ...

Price Transparency in Health Care: An Introduction

Prices for the same health care service can vary dramatically depending on the provider. More expensive providers do not necessarily deliver higher-quality care. And it can be nearly impossible for co...

Uptick in Hospital Mergers: A Doubled-Edged Sword for Consumers

Earlier this month, a federal district court judge in Idaho examined whether a merger between a large hospital system, St. Luke’s, and the state’s largest independent network of doctors would crea...

Alleviating Poverty Doesn’t Come from Slashing Medicaid

Having Medicaid is better than being uninsured—a lot better. But House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s recently released report, War on Poverty: 50 Years Late, claims otherwise. The repo...

The State of Enrollment: Health Coverage Options after March 31

Tonight (by midnight) marks the end of the first open enrollment period to get health insurance in the marketplaces. And although this first open enrollment period was a success—more than 6 million ...

Transparency in Health Care Prices and Quality: A Tool for Health System Reform

For today’s health care consumers, the lack of side-by-side information on the price and quality of health care services can be exasperating. Without this information, making an informed decision ab...

Trending: Boston Hospital Acquisition Shines New Light on the Pitfalls of Mergers and Consolidation

A recent, high-profile hospital acquisition in Massachusetts has sparked new debate about the continued trend toward consolidation among U.S. hospitals. Boston-based Partners HealthCare, already the...

Recent Hospital Earnings Data Show Stark Contrast in Numbers of Uninsured Patients in Medicaid Expansion States Compared to Non-Expansion States

There is now more proof that hospitals have an enormous financial stake in state decisions about expanding health coverage to low-income families. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, abo...

Breaking: HHS Announces September 5 Deadline for Immigration Document Submission in Order to Avoid Marketplace Health Insurance Termination

September 5, 2014 is the deadline to send documents to the marketplace for people with inconsistencies in the documents that they submitted to verify immigration and citizenship status. Those who miss...