MHA Press Room

Report: Job-based health coverage falls by 7.3 million over decade

 

The proportion of Americans who receive health insurance through their jobs declined by eight percentage points, or 7.3 million people, between 1999 and 2009, according to a report released June 21 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More than half of the decline occurred in families with moderate incomes, and nearly three-fifths of the decline was in dependent coverage.

Prepared by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota, the report shows large differences across states in terms of the percentage of employers who offer health insurance and employees who accept it. In a separate RWJF report, the Urban Institute projects that the proportion of small firms (fewer than 100 workers) offering health coverage will increase by 9.7% under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to 47.6%.

New report highlights impact of Commitment to American Prosperity (CAP) Act

All eyes in Washington are on the approaching Aug. 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling. Failure to do so would push the U.S. into default on its existing financial obligations, which experts claim would have a catastrophic effect on our economy.

Vice President Joe Biden has been leading talks with leaders from both parties to try to hammer out an agreement that would increase the debt limit while taking significant steps to reduce the deficit through spending cuts and/or tax increases. While specifics have not yet emerged, reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, which comprise more than 20 percent of all federal spending, remain on the table. Given that, on average, the programs account for around 55 percent of hospital revenues, any agreement almost certainly will have significant implications for the hospital field.

Many of the proposals in the mix call for across-the-board spending cuts based on arbitrary caps or targets. The American Hospital Association, AARP, American Medical Association, American College of Cardiology and LeadingAge sought to understand the real-world impact such across-the-board spending cuts in federal programs could have on some of our nation's most vulnerable, including the elderly, children and low-income families.

The groups released a study detailing the potential impact of one such proposal, the Commitment to American Prosperity (CAP) Act. This bill would limit federal spending to about 20.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product and automatically cut spending across all federal programs in any year where spending is projected to exceed the spending cap.

The study, conducted by The Lewin Group, found that under the proposal by 2021:

• 5.1 million individuals would lose their health insurance
• Cuts to hospitals would force most hospitals to operate in the red, jeopardizing access to care
• Dramatic reductions in fees for physician services could lead to fewer physicians participating in Medicare
• Up to 1.3 million health care workers could lose their jobs
• Social Security benefits would be cut by nearly 20 percent
• Cuts to Social Security and other income support programs would force 3.8 million people into poverty - 2.1 million of them seniors, a 45 percent increase
• Cost shifting of federal payment shortfalls to private employers could lead to a nearly 5 percent increase in health insurance premiums

While the CAP Act may not be the final approach brought to a vote, similar consequences could result from any across-the-board measure that sets specific limits on spending.

To read the study, click here.

Report: U.S. cancer mortality continues to decline

The overall cancer death rate decreased by 1.9% per year from 2001-2007 in males and by 1.5% in females from 2002-2007, according to new statistics from the American Cancer Society. Nearly 1.6 million new cancer cases and 572,000 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the U.S. in 2011.

Overall cancer incidence rates have been stable in men after decreasing by 1.9% per year from 2001 to 2005. In women, incidence rates have been declining by 0.6% annually since 1998.

Cancers of the prostate, lung/bronchus and colorectum account for more than half of all newly diagnosed cancers in men, while cancers of the breast, lung/bronchus and colorectum account for more than half of estimated cancer cases in women.

Explaining Health Reform: The New Rules for Determining Income Under Medicaid in 2014

A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) explains the new rules governing the way that states determine eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP under health reform, and specifically the changes in how income and household size are defined in order to determine eligibility for those programs as well as for the exchange premium credits. The brief also describes the differences between the new rules and the current income counting rules used in Medicaid and CHIP.

The issue brief is available online.

AHRQ issues state-level quality and disparities data

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently released “State Snapshots” of health care quality and disparities data, based on data from the agency’s 2010 national reports on health care quality and disparities. The snapshots provide summary measures of quality by type of care (preventive, acute and chronic), care setting (home health, hospital, nursing home and ambulatory), and clinical area (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, maternal and child health and respiratory diseases), and compare each state to others in its region and the nation.

The website includes a resource directory with tools and information to help states improve health status and quality of care for vulnerable populations, such as racial and ethnic minorities. Mississippi's report is available here.