AcademyHealth Stateside - 11/30/2006
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In this issue:
State Coverage Initiatives Winter Meeting to be Held in New Orleans
Election Round Up: Governor’s Races and Ballot Initiatives
Oregon Lays Groundwork for Universal Coverage Plan
Utah Modifies Program to Help Uninsured Workers Participate in Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
Maryland’s High Risk Insurance Pool Offers Income Subsidy Program
Profiles in Coverage: Oklahoma Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage
New Publication on ERISA Implications for State Coverage Strategies
States Face SCHIP Federal Funding Shortfalls in Fiscal Year 2007
America’s Health Insurance Plans Announces Vision for Universal Coverage
New Issue Brief on Health Plan Benefit Design
News from AcademyHealth
Reports of Interest
New Issue Brief on Health Plan Benefit Design
Major Changes in Benefit Design: A Plausible Way to Control Costs explores the potential for changes in benefit design to help control health care spending. The publication is based on discussions from an expert meeting convened by the Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) and State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) programs. The meeting brought together healthcare stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to engage in discourse on:
- The current state of the field;
- How to best predict patterns of insurance choices;
- Benefit design initiatives being considered or tested;
- Influencing benefit design; and
- Additional information or evidence needed to inform employer and policymaker decisions.
Many challenges exist in controlling health care costs, and major changes in benefit design could offer promise toward this goal. It remains unclear to what extent specific changes would impact health care costs, and whether these changes would make a lasting difference. Despite these unanswered questions, benefit design changes are taking place in every market, including the public-sector.
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