I did a talk on price transparency! hctransparencysummitportal.com/auditorium Some @PetersonCHealth @KFF work I talked about: 1/4 Price transparency bipartisan legislation passed House last year, so Congressional action on price transparency is possible: www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/policy...

Federal law capping insulin costs to $35 a month is still on Dems health policy agenda. Why? > Reuters: Eli Lilly's nationwide insulin pricing settlement called off www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

"For too many Americans drugs are unaffordable... [and] having to ration life saving drugs." - linakhanFTC w jonstewart: youtu.be/oaDTiWaYfcM?... Fact check: Looking at #insulin, over 1 in 5 non-elderly adults (18-64 years) with private insurance rationed insulin due to cost.

New paper w/Ben Sommers & Rebecca Smith: Looking at self-reported insurance in Census data, we document a big disconnect between (1) "actual" growth in Medicaid (in administrative data) during continuous coverage, (2) self-reported Medicaid coverage, and (3) self-reported uninsurance #healthpolicy

Relatedly to today's NYT on MultiPlan and $UHG nytimes.com/2024/04/07/u... (from Chris Hamby), Multiplan and United Healthcare are among top 3 entities getting claims disputed through the federal No Surprises Act process: healthsystemtracker.org/brief/indepe... #KFF

🧵HHS finalized the 2025 annual regulation (NBPP or Payment Notice) for ACA Marketplaces and individual/small group market. Quick takes on premium impact, and other implications. Rule: www.cms.gov/files/docume... #healthpolicy

How do gross margins vary by health insurance market? See #KFF analysis. *Note: Positive margins do not necessarily translate into profitability since they do not account for administrative expenses or tax liabilities www.kff.org/medicare/iss...

Have seen versions of this graph in other spots (maybe from KFF too). Prolonged and persistent implosion of workforce in long‐term care facilities post-pandemic is scary.

Latest health sector job numbers in charts: -Employment in hospitals and clinics now back to pre-COVID projections -Home- and nursing care jobs have seen higher average wage increases www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collec... #KFF #polisky #healthpolicy

Biden Admin has finalized rule limiting short-term limited duration (STLD) plans to 4 months instead of up to 3-years. #KFF estimate: 1.2M were buying non-ACA-compliant plans (like grandfathered and short-term plans) in mid-2022, down from 5.7M in mid-2015. www.kff.org/affordable-c... #healthpolicy

Of the net new #ACA Marketplace sign ups without APTCs (about 140,000), some could be ICHRA enrollees. Hard to put an exact figure on it though. See stats in updated KFF State Health Facts @jaredortaliza.bsky.social @mattmcgough.bsky.social @cynthiaccox.bsky.social #healthpolicy

CMS released 2024 ACA Marketplace plan selections public use files. Total sign ups* tallied 21.4Million. From last year, sign ups with premium help increased by 4.9M and by about 140,000 without APTC. *Thru end of open enrollment for @healthcaregov.bsky.social & SBMs www.kff.org/affordable-c...

Nevada has requested CMS to pause its review of Nevada’s 1332 waiver application which included a reinsurance program and a public option. Letter rescinding the application: www.cms.gov/files/docume... What’s going on? Thread🧵 #healthpolicy

Anti-abortion activists resurrected the 1873 Comstock Act, saying it bans abortion drugs by mail. Big takeaway today: Justices Alito and Thomas seem open to the argument. And now they can tee up a roadmap for Trump to crack down on abortion nationwide. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/...

CMS estimated projections of total health expenditures from 2010 and 2015 extended out through 2031 indicate that CMS now expects health spending to be $1.9T less than what CMS expected in 2010 and $800B less than 2015 projections. www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collec...

The No Surprises Act now protects privately insured patients from balanced bills on many out-of-network items and services, but not all. Explainer: www.kff.org/health-costs... For example--this $97,000 out-of-network air ambulance bill. kffhealthnews.org/news/article... #healthpolicy

🧵What market forces are at play in the UnitedHealthcare $uhg and Mount Sinai New York contract negotiations? And why are we seeing more of these provider-health plan fights and fall outs of late? #healthpolicy #medSky

you're on your own to figure all this out (part 143,326)

At a work event, someone mentioned the polio vaccine -- and I very reflexively spat out "H2P". Appropriate or inappropriate conversation interrupter?!? #Pitt #H2P 😆

The No Surprises Act prohibits many balance bills ("surprise billing") for privately insured patients. Balance bills can and do still happen due to: -billing mistakes -not protected under NSA -service is not covered by plan What happens then? See: www.kff.org/health-costs... #healthpolicy

With ACA individual market enrollment growth, is the market getting healthier? Maybe. Risk scores dropped -6% from 2022 to 2023, based on new 2023 interim data. We won't know how much of this is due to risk adjustment model changes until June 30th report. www.cms.gov/files/docume... #healthpolicy

"When asked to rank those resumes 1,000 times, GPT 3.5 — the most broadly-used version of the model — favored names from some demographics more often than others" @flowingdata.com flowingdata.com/2024/03/13/r...

Matthew Rae and I are speaking about KFF work on medical debt at the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Conference on March 21, 2024. Registration ends this Friday (March 15): www.census.gov/programs-sur... Program here: www2.census.gov/programs-sur...

3 in 10 uninsured and 2 in 10 privately insured non-elderly adults taking insulin reported rationing insulin because of the cost. #SOTU2024 #policysky www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collec...

As/if you listen to SOTU commentary, remember that the net effect of the speech on presidential approval ratings is, on average, less than 1 percentage point.

What do you think Manchin is chewing Romney's ear off over? "West Virginia has the highest ACA individual market premiums and 2nd worst health plan liability risk scores in the country based on the latest data. Let me explain HHS PLRS and risk adjustment." #SOTU2024 #SOTU #healthpolicy

What is the drinking game this SOTU?! And also what are you drinking? I'm ready #SOTU24 #SOTU2024

🇺🇸 U.S.: 1 in 8 voters say abortion is the most important issue for their vote 🇫🇷 France: Parliament voted 780 to 72 in favor of a constitutional amendment to protect women's freedom to have abortions www.kff.org/womens-healt... #polisky #healthpolicy #policysky

What are the candidates' main health policy positions for their 2nd term? President Biden: Will say wants to build on the Inflation Reduction Act, which built on Obamacare during SOTU President Trump: Has said will try to repeal Obamacare, again #SOTU2024 #POTUS #SOTU #polisky #healthpolicy

Naeher taking penalty kicks will never get old. Such a lovely, ridiculous, dramatic, swampy game. #USWNT

USWNT

Try telling me women's sports aren't edge of your seat insane peak drama #Concacaf #USWNT #canada

NEW: For private plans, typical payment for patient-provider email message claims was $39 in 2021. Providers argue payments not enough to offset the workload and payers argue higher payments and volume of these could increase health premiums and spending. www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/charge...

Is France trolling the U.S. now?! #polisky #policysky #healthpolicy www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/...

#polisky #policysky

Congress spending deal does *not* include health care issues that passed in the House (at least as of now): -Medicare site-neutral payment -PBM reform -codification of price transparency regs To find out more, see KFF analysis: www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/policy... #healthpolicy

“Today, the majority goes beyond the necessities of this case to limit how Section 3 can bar an oathbreaking insurrec- from becoming President,” the three wrote. Barrett said now was “not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency.” www.wsj.com/articles/sup...

Biden Admin is appealing a district court decision to limit Obamacare's preventive services mandate. www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/p... KFF found 6 in 10 privately insured or about 100 million people received ACA preventive care in a typical year: www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/preven... #healthpolicy

Books I got through on my vacation and highly recommend! (I suppose there are upsides to drowning your phone in the Arabian Sea 🌊😆) Have you read any of these?

KFF resources 👓 Price transparency: www.healthsystemtracker.org/archive/?_sf... ⏳ No Surprises Act and surprise billing facts and figures: www.healthsystemtracker.org/archive/?_sf... ❓ No Surprises Act Quiz: www.kff.org/quiz/no-surp... 📠 Surprises to continue www.kff.org/private-insu...

I am speaking about the Implications of CMS Price Transparency Payer-Negotiated Rates Disclosure Requirements at the National Health Care Transparency & No Surprises Act Summit! Agenda and registration link: hctransparencysummit.com #healthpolicy

Highly recommend this @KFF Wonk Shop discussion. It's also available as a podcast: shows.acast.com/6238b4c3dc63... #healthpolicy

The word you’re looking for is “inevitable” … not “integral”! Integral implies intentionality. Embryo loss is undesirable but inevitable for almost every IVF case.

Watch a recorded version of today’s great Health Wonk Shop discussion of health insurance prior authorization. Or listen to the podcast. Pay no attention to the part where my computer crashed and I had to quickly switch to my phone. www.kff.org/other/event/...

Just finalized a new case study for my MPH-level health politics class, on Ohio Issue 1 (the 2023 reproductive rights amendment to the state constitution) scholar.harvard.edu/sites/schola... Faculty should feel free to borrow/adapt with attribution! #healthpolicy

On this Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Incarceration, here is an entry about their incarceration during WWII in KFF's timeline of policies and events that shaped health disparities. www.kff.org/how-history-...

New CMS data show providers win most surprise billing disputes & payment rates are north of the QPA payment standard. Legal challenges brought by providers are likely to further dilute the payment standard and initial CBO cost reduction estimates. www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/surpri...

The federal govt posted new data on the No Surprises Act disputes process between plans and providers. www.cms.gov/nosurprises/... No data yet on patients who may be still getting incorrect surprise bills prohibited under NSA and filing complaints on the patient disputes portal.🧵🩺💸

fda commish califf raises concerns about 3rd party promotion of glp1s inappropriately. Orgs the fda doesn’t regulate like it regulates prescription drug advertisement. #healthpolicy