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.
Health Insurance and Costs
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.
Atul Gawande's latest New Yorker piece on unnecessary care has generated much conversation in health care circles. Two leading practitioners of 'Slow Medicine' outline some key takeaways from Gawande's latest must-read take on American medicine.
Reporter Lisa Bernard-Kuhn tackled an ambitious project looking at how doctor offices and hospitals in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are working through the growing pains and gains ushered in by the ACA. Along the way, she learned a number of useful reporting lessons, shared here.
Recent data and survey results suggest that health reform's promise of getting people out of the ER and into less costly care settings hasn't come to pass yet. There's a growing realization that it's going to take more than health insurance to change patients' longterm habits.
California leads the nation when it comes to fostering the health of undocumented immigrants, according to a recent report. Meanwhile, state legislators are considering legislation that would expand coverage to undocumented residents.
Reporter Kathleen O'Brien of the New Jersey Star-Ledger stayed flexible in her reporting and ultimately uncovered system-wide computer problems that were only affecting New Jersey's poor. Here she shares the lessons she learned while working on the project.
The high-deductible health plans sold under the "bronze" banner may look lousy at first glance. But while they may not be ideal coverage, they're far better than the high deductible plans sold before Obamacare. And they can supply a critical lifeline when misfortune strikes.
Why won’t Florida adopt Medicaid expansion? The Florida Senate has proposed a plan, but House leaders and Gov. Rick Scott oppose any Medicaid expansion because they say they don’t trust the federal government to keep its promise to pay for covering more Floridians.