Affordable Care Act

Pennsylvania Moves to Establish its Own Health Insurance Exchange

Pennsylvania plans to move away from participating in the federal health insurance exchange and to establish its own exchange in time for the 2021 open enrollment season. The shift away from using the federal exchange and developing a state-based exchange was approved by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly earlier this year. That shift took a major step forward recently when the state hired a contractor to create the site’s platform. State officials estimate that once the state’s site is up and running it will costs $25 million a year to operate; currently, Pennsylvania pays $95 million a year to participate in the [...]

iqtsupport2019-12-05T06:00:31-05:00December 5, 2019|Affordable Care Act|

Medicaid DSH Cut Delayed

Cuts in Medicaid DSH payments to hospitals will be delayed for another month after Congress passed, and the president signed, a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through December 20. A cut in federal Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) allotments to the states is mandated by the Affordable Care Act and has been delayed several times by Congress. If implemented, Medicaid DSH allotments to the states would be slashed $4 billion in FY 2020 and then $8 billion a year through FY 2025. Cuts in allotments to the states would result in reductions of Medicaid DSH payments to DSH-eligible [...]

iqtsupport2019-11-25T06:00:44-05:00November 25, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments|

Administration Reveals Regulatory Priorities for 2020

The Trump administration’s health care regulatory priorities for 2020 have been outlined by the Office of Management and Budget in a newly released “Statement of Regulatory Priorities for Fiscal Year 2020.” The statement, an annual OMB document, organizes the priorities as follows: Facilitating patient-centered markets Fixing health care financing through protecting private insurance and Medicare Fixing health care financing through reforming the individual market Fixing health care financing through making the ACA and Medicaid fiscally sustainable Bringing value to health care through price and quality transparency Bringing value to health care through patient-centered health IT Bringing value to health care [...]

iqtsupport2019-11-22T06:00:34-05:00November 22, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Medicaid Expansion Brings Improvements to Expansion States

States that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act have experienced fewer hospital admissions, shorter lengths of stays in the hospital, and lower hospital costs, according to a new Health Affairs study. Specifically, they experienced: a 3.1 percent decline in inpatient days a 3.5 percent decrease in discharges for conditions considered “ambulatory care-sensitive,” such as diabetes, chronic respiratory problems, and pneumonia a reduction of nearly three percent in hospital costs. Learn more about how Medicaid expansion has improved the health of the population in states that expanded their Medicaid programs in the Health Affairs study “Medicaid Expansion Associated [...]

iqtsupport2019-11-06T06:00:39-05:00November 6, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

ACA May be Improving, Saving Lives

The insurance expansion made possible by the Affordable Care Act may be improving and even saving lives, some studies and anecdotal evidence suggest. While observers warn that it is difficult to attempt to render a final verdict on the reform law’s insurance expansion and its impact, various studies and observations point to encouraging developments. Among them: High blood pressure is being detected at a higher rate now among people who bought insurance as a result of the ACA than it was prior to the law’s passage. Fewer 19-26 year-olds, now permitted to remain on their parents’ health insurance, are choosing [...]

iqtsupport2019-10-02T15:48:44-04:00October 2, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

CMS Adopts Methodology for Medicaid DSH Cuts

Medicaid DSH money will be allocated among states based on a new methodology under a regulation adopted this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. But it is not clear when that new methodology may actually be used. Cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (Medicaid DSH) allotments to states were mandated by the Affordable Care Act based on the expectation that the law would greatly reduced the number of uninsured Americans. While this has been the case, the decline in the number of uninsured has not been as great as expected. For this reason, Congress has on several [...]

iqtsupport2019-09-25T10:47:09-04:00September 25, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments|

Millions Eligible for Health Insurance Remain Uninsured

More than 15 million Americans who are currently entitled to free or subsidized health insurance are currently uninsured. Among them are 11 million who are eligible for Medicaid but have not applied for benefits and 4.2 million who could afford insurance with the help of federal premium subsidies and either have decided not to take advantage of those subsidies or are unaware of the availability of such subsidies. In addition, another two million people would be eligible for Medicaid if their states expanded their Medicaid program as authorized by the Affordable Care Act. In light of such figures, it is [...]

iqtsupport2019-09-16T06:00:48-04:00September 16, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

ACA Has Reduced Insurance Disparities

The Affordable Care Act is responsible for a major reduction in the disparity of insurance status among racial and ethnic minorities. According to a new Commonwealth Fund analysis, All U.S. racial and ethnic groups saw comparable, proportionate declines in uninsured rates… However, because uninsured rates started off much higher among Hispanic and black non-Hispanic adults than among white non-Hispanic adults, the coverage gap between blacks and whites declined from 11.0 percentage points in 2013 to 5.3 percentage points in 2017. Likewise, the coverage gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites dropped from 25.4 points to 16.6 points. Learn more about specific [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-23T11:40:37-04:00August 23, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Uninsured Rate Rose in 2017

The rate of uninsured Americans rose in 2017, the first such increase since implementation of the Affordable Care Act. According to a new Urban Institute study, The increasing uninsurance rate between 2016 and 2017 was driven by losses of private nongroup coverage, such as that purchased in the health insurance marketplaces, and decreases in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage (-0.4 percentage points each). In addition, Overall, coverage losses were concentrated in the 19 states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act by July 1, 2017…Between 2016 and 2017, uninsurance held stable in Medicaid [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-21T10:58:26-04:00August 21, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Medicaid Rolls Could Include Too Many People in Some States

Some states appear to have more Medicaid participants than they do individuals who meet the program’s income eligibility requirements. Or so suggests a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, an analysis of nine states that expanded their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act found 800,000 more Medicaid participants than it did individuals who meet Medicaid’s income eligibility criteria. The study acknowledges that the actual numbers may not be as great because some people qualify for Medicaid based on disabilities and factors other than income. Learn more in the National Bureau of Economic [...]

iqtsupport2019-08-19T11:39:18-04:00August 19, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|