AHL’s TOP STORY: Slower Health Care Spending Growth Largely Attributed to Weak Economy, Not Permanent Changes, Study Finds

The recession and the slow recovery from it are the major driving forces behind a recent slowdown in health care spending, while higher patient cost-sharing and other changes to the health system play a smaller role, according to a study released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Altarum Institute, The Hill‘s “Healthwatch” reports (Viebeck, “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 4/22).

Bipartisan Support for Exchanges Could Help Lawmakers With ACA Implementation

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act picking up nationwide, a majority of U.S. residents — who identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans — said they consider the creation of health insurance exchanges under the ACA the top health policy priority for their state moving forward, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

KFF collaborated with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the poll, which surveyed a nationally representative random sample of 1,347 adults earlier this month.

At a briefing to discuss the poll on Thursday, the report’s authors said the findings could create an opportunity — or “wiggle room” — for lawmakers to strengthen public support for the implementation of the ACA.

Quotes From Kaiser Family Foundation Briefing, Discussion on Priorities for Health Policy

At a public briefing on Thursday, the Kaiser Family Foundation – in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health – presented the results of a new public poll on key health policy priorities for state and federal lawmakers. The findings informed a discussion between officials from the two organizations and Harvard with reporters from the New York Times, NPR and the Wall Street Journal about some of the nation’s biggest economic and health policy issues.

Here are some notable quotes from that discussion.

Governors Face Several Considerations Before Deciding on Medicaid Expansion

More than half of states have yet to take a definitive position on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion and there are several factors that are causing governors to pause before they make a final decision.

At a briefing jointly organized by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation on Friday,  Krista Drobac — director of the health division at the National Governors Association — outlined some of those factors.

Expansion vs. Other State Expenditures

One significant concern for many governors is how to keep other programs viable in the future when their states’ Medicaid costs could rise in the years following an expansion.

Drobac said, “It’s very fresh in governors minds how much Medicaid costs and how much it’s crowding out their other expenditures,” adding, “They’re thinking about the tradeoffs, so what other parts of our budgets are potentially crowded out by increased Medicaid costs.”

Total Medicaid spending by states from fiscal year 2011 to FY 2012 increased by about $15 billion, compared with a $2 billion decrease in K-12 education spending and a $3 billion decrease in public assistance, according to Drobac.

[Ed. Note: For full details about the Supreme Court’s ruling on allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion without any effect on current funding, click here. For updates on states’ decisions on the expansion, check out American Health Line’s Medicaid map.]

The 10 Most Surprising Findings in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey

The Kaiser Family Foundation today unveiled the 2011 version of its annual employer health benefits survey, and some of the findings are quite interesting. Below you’ll find the 10 most surprising conclusions from the poll.

1. Although premiums for single coverage are 8% higher in 2011 than in 2010 and family premiums are 9% higher, workers contributions — for both single coverage and family coverage — are virtually the same. It’s particularly surprising when you consider that average premiums have increased by 113% since 2001, while workers’ contributions have increased by 131%.
2. Average premiums for family coverage for workers in firms with three to 199 employees are lower ($14,098 on average) than for workers in firms with 200 or more workers ($15,520).
3. Sixteen percent of employees with single coverage make no contribution toward their premiums.
4. Employees with coverage contribute 18% of the premium for single coverage and 28% of the premium for family coverage.
5. Enrollment in high-deductible health plans is increasing exponentially, with 17% of employees with coverage enrolled in such plans in 2011, compared with 13% in 2010 and 8% in 2009.
6. The percentage of businesses that offer health benefits to their employees in 2011 was down nine percentage points since 2010 (69% in 2010 to 60% in 2011).
7. Businesses with 1,000 or more workers are much more likely to offer a high-deductible health plan than companies with three to 199 workers (41% to 23%).
8. More than one in four (26%) of businesses with more than 200 workers continues to offer retiree health benefits, the same as in 2010 but down significantly from 2007 and before.
9. Seventy-two percent of businesses had at least one plan that was exempt from provisions in the federal health reform law because it was grandfathered.
10. Seventy percent of firms with 200 or more employees enrolled at least one individual under a provision in the overhaul that allows adult children up to age 26 to be covered under their parents’ plan, while 19% of companies with 199 or fewer employees enrolled at least one individual under the provision.

By Anthony Wilson, Editor