The Commonwealth Fund Connection serves as a roundup of Fund publications, charts, and multimedia added to the Commonwealth Fund Web site in the last two weeks, and also offers links to other timely content.
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What's New
Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased an average of 41 percent across states from 2003 to 2009, more than three times faster than median incomes, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. Yet, insurance is buying less. The analysis found that deductibles per person rose 77 percent, on average.
Researchers present a state-by-state analysis of private employer health insurance costs for the six years before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed, and project premiums in 2020 if these increases continue. View an interactive map showing a state-by-state view of health insurance premium increases.
"Whether you live in Montana, Texas, or New York, private insurance costs have been increasing faster than working family incomes," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, lead author of the study. "For more than a decade, families with job-based insurance have been sacrificing wages to hold on to health insurance. The good news is that the Affordable Care Act reforms provide a foundation to improve coverage and slow health care cost growth in the future."
An audio file of Cathy Schoen discussing the report is available; you can also read a blog post on the findings. Read more »
Recent Releases
In 1995, The Commonwealth Fund launched Healthy Steps for Young Children, which promoted a model of preventive pediatric care for infants and toddlers up to age 3. A new report looks at the impact of the program and explores how it can serve as a model of the patient-centered care that recent health care reform is intended to encourage. Read more »
New on the Web
Videos of two lectures from The Commonwealth Fund's recent International Health Policy Symposium are available in the Multimedia Center: the opening keynote address, "In Search of Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS," delivered by England's Minister of State for Health, Simon Burns MP; and the John M. Eisenberg, M.D., International Lecture, "Transforming Health Care Systems: A Vision for the Future," delivered by Robert A. Petzel, M.D., Under Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In a new post on The Commonwealth Fund Blog, Michelle Ries of the Fund's International Program on Health Policy and Innovation reports on how the meeting examined approaches to problems shared by many health care systems, showcased policy innovations, and pointed to opportunities for learning from other countries. Read more »
In a new blog post, Fund vice president Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., says that recently issued regulations governing the medical loss ratio for health insurance plans—the percentage of enrollees' premiums that plans spend on actual medical care, as opposed to administration and profits—will improve the value consumers receive for their health insurance payments and will place downward pressure on premiums over time. Read more »
Users of WhyNotTheBest.org now have access to interactive maps displaying regional variation at the state and county levels for several indicators of hospital performance—including measures tracking delivery of recommended care, patient experience, mortality rates, and readmission rates for common conditions. Click on the "Maps" tab on WhyNotTheBest.org to get started. The unique maps are a first step toward viewing performance at the local level—where much of the important work of building collaboration and accountability across health care organizations is beginning to happen, with incentives from the Affordable Care Act. Read more »
Events
In a meeting this week, The Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System welcomed three new members: John M. Colmers, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Martín-J. Sepúlveda, M.D., F.A.C.P., an IBM fellow and vice president of integrated health services for the IBM Corporation; and David A. Share, M.D., M.P.H., executive medical director of health care quality at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The Commonwealth Fund is also pleased to announce that Stuart Guterman has been appointed executive director of the Commission, succeeding Stephen C. Schoenbaum, M.D., M.P.H. For further information about the work of the Commission, visit commonwealthfund.org. Read more »
Fellowships
The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowships in Minority Health Policy are now open to applicants for the 2011–12 fellowship year. This unique fellowship is designed to prepare physicians for leadership roles in formulating and promoting health policies and practices that improve access to high-quality care for minority and other disadvantaged populations. For more information, please visit http://www.mfdp.med.harvard.edu/fellows_faculty/cfhuf/about.html. Read more »