A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research looks at the slowdown in health care spending, identifying three primary factors, but the authors are pessimistic about the enduring nature…
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A Kaiser Family Foundation article suggests that even if there is substantial under-enrollment of the young, healthy people needed to subsidize health care costs for older enrollees, insurers should not have to raise premiums dramatically, but the authors own analysis likely understates the cost of the sicker enrollees and shows that second-year premium increases of over 20% would likely be necessary to avoid continuing losses.
http://kff.org/health-reform/perspective/the-numbers-behind-young-invincibles-and-the-affordable-care-act/Research published in Health Affairs examines the characteristics of Medicaid emergency room users and use.
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According to CMS, avoidable Medicare hospital readmissions were around 18% for the first eight months of 2013, down from 19% in prior years, reflecting the possible effect of the readmissions penalty program.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20131206/NEWS/312069961/downward-trend-in-readmissions-continues-cms-says?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGFWdjBIRWxiNUtpQzMyWmFwNTNvWUpicWdiUk13MEUwTzQzMlRRZVlqaGlXUTY5aTJIODJ3VnE4WEE3c1ExYW50Yk96bzVOSkdZc2lEL0ZnZ0Fhc254bkVEcnVNPQ==#The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the current cost over the next ten years of repealing the SGR physician payment formula and using a zero update during that time is $116 billion and replacing it with a .5% annual update is $136 billion. This cost is down substantially from the $271 billion repeal cost estimated a couple of years ago.
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/2013%20SGR%20Options%20-%20Final%20Rule.pdfAn AHRQ Statistical Brief shows that for the Medicare population in 2010 the top 5 classes of drug use were metabolic, cardiovascular, CNS, respiratory and gastrointestinal, accounting for $63 billion and 68% of all Medicare drug spending.
http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st411/stat411.shtmlA Kaiser Family Foundation report summarizes Medicare Advantage offerings for 2014, noting trends in availability, benefits and cost.
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About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.