PWC's Health Research Institute gives us its current guess on 2016's medical trend, which it projects to be down slightly from what is being experienced this year, but the reasoning…
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A brief from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines the impact of the reform law's MLR requirements on insurers.
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As high deductible insurance plans continue to cover more Americans, the Employee Benefit Research Institute gives details on the characteristics of enrollees compared to the population at large.
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An article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that there will be significant health insurance premium increases for individual policies in many states for 2016.
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The annual Milliman Medical Index report reveals continued increases of family medical costs far above the rates of personal income growth or general inflation.
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A survey of health plans by Wells Fargo Insurance finds that most anticipate high cost trends of 7% to 10% over the next year and a half, indicating that premiums will continue to rise rapidly.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150519005507/en/Survey-Inflation-Employers-Expect-Health-Care-Premiums#.VV4AhEtFoVRA study from the Employee Benefits Research Institute indicates that contributions to health savings accounts are decreasing, at the same time cost-sharing for most Americans is rapidly increasing.
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A Statistical Brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality examines trends in the insured population over 2012-2014, during the time when reform mandates and the exchanges were being…
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A Government Accounting Office Report finds that the reform law's premium tax credit (subsidy) has contributed to an expansion of the number of people with insurance but that many Americans still don't have access to a plan that is affordable (looking only at premium cost, not even considering the cost-sharing features). And we are now learning that many people who thought they were going to get a subsidy aren't.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/669165.pdfA brief analysis from single-payer advocates finds no change in MLRs or administrative costs after reform.
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An National Bureau of Economic Research paper finds that high-deductible health plans create a sustained decrease in health spending trends.
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Towers Watson issues another survey of employer trends, finding that things aren't likely to get any easier for workers over the next few years.
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A survey sponsored by Evolution1's Healthcare Trends Institute focuses on employer health benefit trends.
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Another headsmacker. The Commonwealth Fund, which unfortunately has a tendency to confuse ideology and research, has determined that for rate increases required to be filed for review under the reform law; i.e. those over 10%, medical costs were the primary cause for the requested increase. Really, you don't say.
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2015/jan/1801_mccue_whats_behind_hlt_ins_rate_increases_ib.pdfAbout 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.
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