Every year, millions of children temporarily lose their health coverage under public insurance programs, only to be reenrolled later in the same program or a different one. According to two different Fund-supported reports, coverage gaps are often a byproduct of the cumbersome coverage renewal processes families must periodically undergo, or of unnecessarily complicated transitions from one program to another. Read more »
The first-ever state-by-state estimate of health insurance premiums adjusted for the quality of coverage finds that the smallest firms--those with fewer than 10 workers--pay an average of 18 percent more in health insurance premiums than those in large firms with a thousand or more employees. The Fund-supported researchers found that type of health plan--HMO, PPO, or indemnity plan--is the greatest single predictor of value for money spent on employer-based insurance. Read more »
Despite the well-documented benefits of developmental and behavioral screening, only 30 percent of American children who need services are identified by the time they start school. But in North Carolina, the proportion of children screened for developmental problems has been steadily increasing. Read more »
For three years now, Commonwealth Fund researchers have been tracking a disturbing trend: young adults, ages 19 to 29, are one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population without health insurance. In 2004, 13.7 million lacked coverage, an increase of 2.5 million since 2000. Read more »
The Medicare Advantage program is intended to increase the role of private health plans in Medicare. The program's creators envisioned that seniors would opt out of fee-for-service Medicare to take advantage of the lower premiums, lower cost-sharing, and additional benefits available in private plans. But a new Fund study shows that private plans may not always be a good deal for sicker beneficiaries who use more health services. Read more »