Publications: Health Insurance

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The Individual Insurance Market Before Reform: Low Premiums and Low Benefits

April 20, 2011 - This Commonwealth Fund–supported study surveyed individual insurance plans in 10 randomly selected states to provide a snapshot of the pre-reform market in terms of premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket limits, cost-sharing, and covered services.

In Brief

The Essential Health Benefits Provisions of the Affordable Care Act: Implications for People with Disabilities

March 24, 2011 - This issue brief examines how this statute will help Americans with disabilities, who currently are subject to discrimination by insurers based on health status and health care need.

Issue Brief

Help on the Horizon: How the Recession Has Left Millions of Workers Without Health Insurance, and How Health Reform Will Bring Relief—Findings from The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2010

March 16, 2011 - Using data from the Commonwealth Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2010 and prior years, this report examines the effect of the recession on the health insurance coverage of adults between the ages of 19 and 64 and the implications for their finances and access to health care.

Fund Report

Making Health Insurance Cost-Sharing Clear to Consumers: Challenges in Implementing Health Reform's Insurance Disclosure Requirements

February 3, 2011 - This brief reports on findings from a Consumers Union study that examined consumers' initial reactions to a new disclosure form that allows consumers to compare health insurance plans and understand terms of coverage.

Issue Brief

Out-of-Pocket Burden of Health Care Spending and the Adequacy of the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy

February 3, 2011 - A Commonwealth Fund-supported study examined the amount of household resources allocated to out-of-pocket health spending in the year before Medicare's Part D drug benefit took effect.

In Brief

Testimony—The Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Program Under the Affordable Care Act: Potential and Options for Spreading Mission-Driven Integrated Delivery Systems

January 13, 2011 - In testimony before the Federal Advisory Board on the Affordable Care Act's CO-OP Program, The Commonwealth Fund's Sara Collins said that the new health plans hold promise to provide efficient, high-quality care that responds to consumers' needs.

Testimony

Moral Hazard Matters: Measuring Relative Rates of Underinsurance Using Threshold Measures

January 4, 2011 - Individuals or households are sometimes classified as underinsured if their out-of-pocket spending on medical care relative to income exceeds a certain threshold. This Commonwealth Fund-supported study estimates that because of "moral hazard"—the theory that people behave differently when they are insulated from risk—this measurement method may underestimate the number of people with an inadequate level of health insurance coverage.

In Brief

Realizing Health Reform’s Potential: Adults Ages 50–64 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010

December 14, 2010 - This new issue brief from The Commonwealth Fund’s Realizing Health Reform's Potential series explores those Affordable Care Act provisions that will be of particular benefit to adults ages 50 to 64, a group suffering from extended unemployment and a loss of employer health benefits.

Issue Brief

State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003–2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits

December 2, 2010 - This Commmonwealth Fund study presents a state-by-state analysis of private employer health insurance costs for the six years before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed, finding that premiums for employer-sponsored family plans increased more than three times faster than median income.

Issue Brief

At Pitney Bowes, Value-Based Insurance Design Cut Copayments and Increased Drug Adherence

November 2, 2010 - A Commonwealth Fund study found that by eliminating or reducing copayments for key drugs prescribed for employees at risk for cardiovascular disease, a value-based health insurance program at the U.S.-based firm Pitney Bowes led to modest increases in medication adherence rates.

In the Literature

Realizing Health Reform’s Potential: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010

October 8, 2010 - In this new issue brief from The Commonwealth Fund’s Realizing Health Reform's Potential series, Sara Collins and Jennifer Nicholson explore several short- and long-term provisions that promise to stem the rapidly rising tide of uninsured young adults, one of the largest uninsured segments of the population.

Issue Brief

Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans Created by the Affordable Care Act of 2010

October 4, 2010 - In this new issue brief from The Commonwealth Fund’s Realizing Health Reform's Potential series, Jean Hall and Janice Moore of the University of Kansas examine eligibility, benefits, premiums, cost-sharing, and oversight of the state PCIP programs, as well as variation in the plans from state to state.

Issue Brief

Health Insurance Exchanges and the Affordable Care Act: Eight Difficult Issues

September 30, 2010 - This new Commonwealth Fund report provides recommendations for state and federal policymakers as they design and implement the new health insurance exchanges, which are a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Fund Report

Realizing Health Reform's Potential: A New Series of Briefs on the Affordable Care Act

September 7, 2010 - The Commonwealth Fund has launched a new series of Fund issue briefs that examines the way the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) will benefit different populations and groups, as well as improve insurance coverage and change the delivery of care.

Issue Brief

Realizing Health Reform's Potential: A New Series of Briefs on the Affordable Care Act

September 7, 2010 - The Commonwealth Fund has launched a new series of Fund issue briefs that examines the way the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) will benefit different populations and groups, as well as improve insurance coverage and change the delivery of care.

Issue Brief