This brief presents key facts and analysis about affordability of health care costs among people with Medicare, including younger adults with long-term disabilities, drawing on data from various sources.
By JEFF GOLDSMITH This morning, after twelve years, I dumped my Medicare Advantage plan and enrolled in a Medicare Supplement policy. My smoldering discontent finally boiled over and . . . I’m gone. It was a large network style national plan with zero premium. My decision to enroll in MA was, in part, ideological. I liked the…
Catastrophic healthcare expenditures (CHE) are highly problematic for families are are unequally distributed throughout society. However, how can we quantify the incidence, intensity and inequality of CHE in a society? A paper by Ogwang and Mwabu (2025) provide one methodology by using the Watts poverty measure and adapting it to measure CHE. We first describe…
Californians with medical debt will no longer have to worry about unpaid medical bills showing up on their credit reports under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, adding the nation’s most populous state to a growing effort to protect consumers squeezed by unaffordable medical bills. The bill, by Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) and…
A month before 23andMe’s bankruptcy filing, CEO Anne Wojcicki had a fully financed proposal to take the genetic testing company private. The financing fell apart, and a series of alternative proposals by Wojcicki did not result in a deal. The post Anne Wojcicki Had a Fully Financed Plan to Take 23andMe Private. Then It Fell…
We need to pivot from a deficiency to an abundance model – from over-focusing on what an individual cannot do, to making the most of the physical and mental resources at hand to maximize independence, dignity, and quality of life. This includes rethinking physical environments and thoughtfully embedding technology to support capability rather than limitation…
That is the news out of the UK today. A press release from the United Kingdom government states: A 25% increase in medicine pricing corresponds to 2 changes to the way NICE evaluates medicines; a change to the cost effectiveness thresholds and the introduction of a new value set for judging health states.NICE currently assesses value for money…
Women have to navigate the fragmented system with very little support, coordinating between providers and often interpreting conflicting guidance. The post Hidden in Plain Sight: The Cost Crisis in Women’s Healthcare appeared first on MedCity News.
Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz met in an Oct. 1 vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News that was cordial and heavy on policy discussion — a striking change from the Sept. 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Vance and Walz acknowledged occasional agreement on…
AHIP (formerly America’s Health Insurance Plans) released a statement yesterday saying that their health plan members “announced a series of commitments to streamline, simplify and reduce prior authorization.” 48 US health plans signed off on the statement. What were AHIP’s 6 commitments? Standardizing Electronic Prior Authorization. Participating health plans will work toward implementing common, transparent submissions…