Consumers May Have More Control Over Health Costs Than Previously Thought
The historic RAND Health Insurance Experiment found that patients had little or no control over their health care spending once they began to receive a physician's care, but a new study shows that this has changed for those enrolled in consumer-directed health plans. Patients with health coverage that includes a high deductible and either a health savings account or a health reimbursement arrangement reduced their costs even after they initiated care. Overall, the study found about two thirds of the reduction in total health care costs was from patients initiating care less often and the remaining third was from a reduction in costs after care is initiated.
Policymakers Should Prepare For Major Uncertainties With Medicaid Expansion
The number of low-income, uninsured Americans enrolling in Medicaid under the expanded coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 could vary considerably from the levels currently projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. They report that it's probably more realistic to say somewhere between 8 million and 22 million may enroll in Medicaid by 2014 instead of the 16 million predicted by the CBO.
Attack On Red Tape To Save 5 Billion On US Health Care Bill In 5 Years, Says Obama Administration
CMS has proposed some rules to scale back outdates regulations to cut red tape in an effort to slice another $5 billion in the US health care bill over five years, the HHS (Department of Health & Human Services) has announced. The Obama Administration says this move will help at least 6, 000 hospitals and healthcare providers. The HHS explained that regulations are there to protect people from harm. However, some of them become obsolete and burdensome - simply outdated. Vice President Joe Biden, said: "The President and I have challenged agencies to hunt down burdensome regulations.