State of the Union: Health Care Strategies in Context - all lists
<p>Health care costs and coverage were among the themes of President Bush's State of the Union address last night. In his speech, the president discussed several strategies to address cost and coverage concerns, including wider use of health saving accounts.<br><Br>Commonwealth Fund-supported research addressing these and other policy options for controlling health care costs, expanding access and improving quality, and for moving the U.S. toward a truly high-performance health system, can be found in this <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=20588&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2FGeneral%2FGeneral%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D344112%26%23doc344112">special resource collection,</a> which includes a <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=20586&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Faboutus%2Faboutus%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D347739%26%23doc347739">new column</a> by Fund President Karen Davis.<br><Br>A related <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=20587&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D347500%26%23doc347500">Fund report</a> released today looks at the impact of rising health care spending on family budgets. Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, coauthors Mark Merlis, Douglas Gould, and Bisundev Mahato examined the components of out-of-pocket spending and characteristics of families with high out-of-pocket costs, including income level and insurance coverage.<br><br>The authors found that families struggling with high out-of-pocket expenses are more likely than other families to report difficulties in obtaining needed care, and often have trouble paying their bills--increasing the possibility that they may face debt or bankruptcy or drop coverage altogether.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/jan/state-of-the-union--health-care-strategies-in-context---all-lists