From hospital systems to pharmacies, this summer’s health headlines have been filled with tales of consolidation. And no where has the “merger mania” been more evident than the insurance sector. Health policy expert Paul Ginsburg helps us break down the trend in this Q&A.
In Florida, only one in three children receive adequate preventive care, and the state ranks 50th out of 51 states and D.C. in per-child spending. Reporter Maggie Clark will look into what happens when the nation's third-largest state starts "nickel-and-diming preventive care for children."
Tradeoffs are a recurring theme when it comes to Obamacare plans — lower premiums often come with a smaller range of doctors to choose from, as a new database bears out. But as earlier research has shown, the relation between the size of physician networks and quality of care is, well, complicated.
Last year, California embarked on a bold new experiment to improve how care is coordinated among patients enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare. But the progress has been anything but smooth for a host of reasons, as UCLA health researcher Kathryn Kietzman explains in this overview.
Health care's "super-utilizers" are very much in the news these days, as policymakers seek ways to curb spending. But programs that deliver durable results that save money are scarce, in part because many 'frequent fliers' suffer from an incredibly complex web of issues, often tied to early trauma.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold the Affordable Care Act’s premium subsidies in a 6-3 ruling that prompted President Barack Obama to say the health law “is here to stay.” Here's what some leading experts and voices in the media had to say about the critical decision.
While states such as Texas and Florida have repeatedly rejected efforts to expand Medicaid in the first place, California is on the verge of expanding public health coverage to include undocumented children. But will they be able to find access to care in an already crowded Medicaid system?
Leading journalists and a former Obamacare official offered predictions, discussed possible outcomes and shared story ideas for the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision on King v. Burwell at a Reporting on Health webinar this week.
New projections estimate that Obamacare will add more than a quarter-billion dollars in administrative costs by 2022. About two thirds of this added expense will go to private insurance companies via the insurance exchanges. In contrast, public insurance gives far more bang for the buck.
Rampant consolidation among hospitals and doctors' practices was the theme of our Tuesday webinar with guests Paul B. Ginsburg of USC and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times. Here's a recap of what they had to say on how the trend is shaping U.S. health care, and what might be done in response.
