Our Health Policy Matters

President-Elect Donald Trump has suggested replacing Obamacare with a package of benefits that might include: Permitting Insurance to be sold across state lines Retention of the mandate covering pre-existing conditions Allowing young people to remain on parents’ insurance Creating high-risk pools to provide insurance to people with chronic diseases Using Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as an alternative to tax credits Expanding the use of high-deductible plans to lower premium costs Let’s consider some of the challenges the President-Elect and Congress will face as they craft these – and other – provisions to amend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) .   Selling Insurance Across State Lines President-Elect Trump has been clear that he supports this idea, because it would bring more competition into state markets.  Here’s the challenge. Insurance is regulated by the states, and some states have tighter regulations than others. To allow insurance t...

President-Elect Donald Trump has suggested replacing Obamacare with a package of benefits that might include: Permitting Insurance to be sold across state lines Retention of the mandate covering pre-existing conditions Allowing young people to remain on parents’ insurance Creating high-risk pools to provide insurance to people with chronic diseases Using Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as an alternative to tax credits Expanding the use of high-deductible plans to lower premium costs Let’s consider some of the challenges the President-Elect and Congress will face as they craft these – and other – provisions to amend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) .   Selling Insurance Across State Lines President-Elect Trump has been clear that he supports this idea, because it would bring more competition into state markets.  Here’s the challenge. Insurance is regulated by the states, and some states have tighter regulations than others. To allow insurance t...

In fewer than 100 days, the Obamacare insurance exchanges will be open for business.  Fifteen states will be running their own exchanges.  Thirty-five will be relying on the federal exchange. Vangent, which is running the federal call center, is preparing for 200,000 calls per day between now and the first of October . The federal government has also re-tooled its site, www.healthcare.gov , to provide up-to-date information about the exchanges. These are parts of a massive consumer education campaign, which is badly needed.  Because as of two months ago – three years after its enactment and a year after the Supreme Court affirmed almost all of it – according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 42 percent of Americans did not even know that Obamacare was the law of the land. Obamacare is and will remain the law of the land.  And here ten things you need to know today as you prepare for it to take full effect. One, if you are part of a family o...

In fewer than 100 days, the Obamacare insurance exchanges will be open for business.  Fifteen states will be running their own exchanges.  Thirty-five will be relying on the federal exchange. Vangent, which is running the federal call center, is preparing for 200,000 calls per day between now and the first of October . The federal government has also re-tooled its site, www.healthcare.gov , to provide up-to-date information about the exchanges. These are parts of a massive consumer education campaign, which is badly needed.  Because as of two months ago – three years after its enactment and a year after the Supreme Court affirmed almost all of it – according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 42 percent of Americans did not even know that Obamacare was the law of the land. Obamacare is and will remain the law of the land.  And here ten things you need to know today as you prepare for it to take full effect. One, if you are part of a family o...

How will the Supreme Court respond to an argument next week that might lead to the disintegration of health care in America? In recent years, we have been making slow policy progress in better coordinating and integrating primary and specialty care, and health and mental health care.  Two milestones were the passage of the federal Mental Health Parity Act in 2008 and the Affordable Care Act provisions in 2010 that prohibit insurance discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, both in coverage and in cost. These are opening more primary care doors to people with mental illnesses.  80% of all mental health problems are first seen in a primary care office.  And it now pays for a primary care clinician to screen for mental health problems.  According to one recent projection completed by the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County (available on request from that organization), a primary care practitioner can generate in excess of $...

How will the Supreme Court respond to an argument next week that might lead to the disintegration of health care in America? In recent years, we have been making slow policy progress in better coordinating and integrating primary and specialty care, and health and mental health care.  Two milestones were the passage of the federal Mental Health Parity Act in 2008 and the Affordable Care Act provisions in 2010 that prohibit insurance discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, both in coverage and in cost. These are opening more primary care doors to people with mental illnesses.  80% of all mental health problems are first seen in a primary care office.  And it now pays for a primary care clinician to screen for mental health problems.  According to one recent projection completed by the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County (available on request from that organization), a primary care practitioner can generate in excess of $...