Our Health Policy Matters

Now that 2014 and Obamacare are both here, there will be plenty of stories about Affordable Care Act implementation.  Some will be newsworthy; but others will just be history.  Last week, we got our first history story characterized as exploding news. The Washington Post reported on a newly-released Harvard study that analyzed the impact of the 2008 Oregon Medicaid expansion on hospital emergency department visits.  The study found that there was a 40 percent increase in the number of emergency department visits made by the new Medicaid enrollees. For the Post article, an MIT health economist (I guess no Harvard ones were available!) commented  that he viewed it “as part of a broader set of evidence that covering people with health insurance doesn’t save money,” something he went on to characterize as a “misleading motivator for the Affordable Care Act.” And Forbes went farther, claiming the study results are “ undermining [the] central rationale...

Now that 2014 and Obamacare are both here, there will be plenty of stories about Affordable Care Act implementation.  Some will be newsworthy; but others will just be history.  Last week, we got our first history story characterized as exploding news. The Washington Post reported on a newly-released Harvard study that analyzed the impact of the 2008 Oregon Medicaid expansion on hospital emergency department visits.  The study found that there was a 40 percent increase in the number of emergency department visits made by the new Medicaid enrollees. For the Post article, an MIT health economist (I guess no Harvard ones were available!) commented  that he viewed it “as part of a broader set of evidence that covering people with health insurance doesn’t save money,” something he went on to characterize as a “misleading motivator for the Affordable Care Act.” And Forbes went farther, claiming the study results are “ undermining [the] central rationale...

When the Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act next year, it will do so against the backdrop of both a national sentiment for government to do more in the area of health and significant inequalities in access to health and health care based solely on the states in which people live.   A new poll released last week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that 52% of Americans want government to put more resources into health.   Only 41% gave high grades to our health care system, and only 33% gave our public health system high grades. We would all like a more effective health and health care system.  But a better national delivery system would make a much bigger difference in some states than in others. This week, Our Health Policy Matters unveils a new ranking of the states that reflects which states invest most effectively in our health and health care.  It was cr...

When the Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act next year, it will do so against the backdrop of both a national sentiment for government to do more in the area of health and significant inequalities in access to health and health care based solely on the states in which people live.   A new poll released last week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that 52% of Americans want government to put more resources into health.   Only 41% gave high grades to our health care system, and only 33% gave our public health system high grades. We would all like a more effective health and health care system.  But a better national delivery system would make a much bigger difference in some states than in others. This week, Our Health Policy Matters unveils a new ranking of the states that reflects which states invest most effectively in our health and health care.  It was cr...