This column explores how health reform is changing the ways in which we pay for and deliver health care in the U.S. It also highlights the ways in which our current system is falling short on measures of coverage, access and affordability. On any given week, that could mean a look at how Republican plans to repeal Obamacare could reshape the individual insurance market, how the safety net system is adapting to new financial pressures, or how the trend of doctors and hospitals merging into ever-larger entities is driving up costs. We also explore health care costs and whether the Affordable Care Act or its successor plans can live up to the promise to rein them in. Throughout, we keep watch on how the goals of health reform intersect with the shaping power of markets and human behavior. Contributors include veteran health journalist Trudy Lieberman and independent health journalist Kellie Schmitt, with occasional contributions from independent journalists such as Susan Abram and Sara Stewart.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), community clinics have played an important role providing care for newly insured Americans. Funding for programs that enable community clinics to meet patient's needs will expire on September 30th, if Congress doesn’t act.
Focusing on how to finance expanded coverage is often compared to moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic: the whole health care enterprise is sinking under the weight of its high costs, and no amount of shifting who pays how much will keep us all from going under.
Once again, Congress is considering a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and make major cuts to Medicaid. Next week, the Senate may vote on this latest repeal effort, led by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
As Americans warm to the idea of a greater role for the government in health care, there's a difference between saying that everyone is entitled to health insurance and a plan to make that possible.
Suggestions of health insurance policies with skimpy benefits and higher out-of-pocket costs might reduce part of the health insurance cost equation, but is that the kind of insurance system Americans really want?
Instead of strictly asking about medical providers, Dr. David Carlisle, an expert on health disparities, urges reporters to examine the availability and diversity of dentists, psychologists, pharmacists and optometrists in their community.
The U.S. needs to seriously examine what the national health systems of peer countries like France, Germany, and the U.K. do best and make those ideas work here.
As the country faces the possibility of massive Medicaid cuts, a pair of experts and an ace Medicaid reporter offered tips on how to navigate the fast-developing story in our latest Health Matters webinar.
The growth of Los Angeles’ safety net has been dramatic since the Affordable Care Act took effect. Now clinics are anxiously wondering if the many changes they've made can be sustained if the ACA is repealed.
“I do think you should take the arguments in favor of work requirements seriously,” Vox's Dylan Scott advised. “But also, of course, look at them with a skeptical eye.”
