April 26, 2013 - Eighty-four million people―nearly half of all working-age U.S. adults―went without health insurance for a time last year or were underinsured because of high out-of-pocket costs relative to income, according to a new study based on findings from the Commonwealth Fund's 2012 Biennial Health Insurance Survey. For more information, see the report, Insuring the Future: Current Trends in Health Coverage and the Effects of Implementing the Affordable Care Act.
April 15, 2013 - For more information please see Insurers Medical Loss Ratios and Quality Improvement Spending in 2011
March 18, 2013 - This issue brief examines state action to select an essential health benefits benchmark plan and finds that 24 states and the District of Columbia selected a plan. All but five states will have a small-group plan as their benchmark.
For more information, see the issue brief, Implementing the Affordable Care Act: Choosing an Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Plan.
January 10, 2013 - The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System recommends a set of synergistic provider payment reforms, consumer incentives, and systemwide reforms to confront costs while improving health system performance. This approach could slow spending by a cumulative $2 trillion by 2023.
For more information, see the report, Confronting Costs: Stabilizing U.S. Health Spending While Moving Toward a High Performance Health Care System.
December 12, 2012 - Average premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance plans rose 62 percent between 2003 and 2011, rising far faster than incomes did in all states, according to a new Commonwealth Fund analysis that tracks trends in job-based coverage state by state.
For more information, see the issue brief, "State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003–2011: Eroding Protection and Rising Costs Underscore Need for Action."
November 27, 2012 - For more information on patient-centered medical homes, see the Patient-Centered Care topic page and WhyNotTheBest.org.
November 16, 2012 - More than two-thirds of U.S. primary care physicians were using electronic medical records in 2012, a substantial increase from 2009, when less than half had adopted the technology, a new Commonwealth Fund survey finds. But results also depict the U.S. as an outlier when it comes to affordability of health care.
For more information, see the In the Literature, "A Survey of Primary Care Doctors in Ten Countries Shows Progress in Use of Health Information Technology, Less in Other Areas."
November 5, 2012 - A new Commonwealth Fund study highlights a nearly decade-long trend of declining health insurance coverage and rising costs for workers in small businesses, particularly employees making less than $15 an hour.
For more information, see the issue brief, Jobs Without Benefits: The Health Insurance Crisis Faced by Small Businesses and Their Workers.
October 9, 2012 - With President Obama and Governor Romney offering fundamentally different visions for the nation's health system, the presidential election provides a stark choice for U.S. voters. This analysis contrasts the potential impact of implementing the Affordable Care Act in full with Romney’s proposals to repeal the law, eliminate many of the new requirements for insurance markets, and make changes in Medicaid and Medicare.
For more information, see the report, "Health Care in the 2012 Presidential Election: How the Obama and Romney Plans Stack Up."
September 10, 2012 - For more information, see the In the Literature, In Amenable Mortality—Deaths Avoidable Through Health Care—Progress in the U.S. Lags That of Three European Countries.
August 27, 2012 - This issue brief reports on results from a survey that assesses hospitals' readiness to participate in ACOs, which shows the U.S. is at the beginning of the ACO adoption curve. For more information, see, "Hospitals on the Path to Accountable Care: Highlights from a 2011 National Survey of Hospital Readiness to Participate in an Accountable Care Organization."
July 30, 2012 - The authors of this Commonwealth Fund-supported study found that Medicare beneficiaries are more satisfied with their health coverage—and have fewer health care access and medical bill problems—than adults with private insurance.
For more information, see the In the Literature, "Medicare Beneficiaries Less Likely to Experience Cost- and Access-Related Problems than Adults with Private Coverage."
July 16, 2012 - Twenty percent of U.S. women ages 19 to 64 were uninsured in 2010, up from 15 percent in 2000. This issue brief examines the implications of poor coverage for women in the United States by comparing their experiences to those of women in 10 other industrialized nations, all of which have universal health insurance systems.
For more information, see the issue brief, "Oceans Apart: The Higher Health Costs of Women in the U.S. Compared to Other Nations, and How Reform Is Helping."
June 8, 2012 - In 2011, 13.7 million young adults ages 19 to 25 stayed on or joined their parents' health plans, including 6.6 million who would likely not have been able to do so before passage of the Affordable Care Act, according to this Commonwealth Fund report. But not all young adults have parents with health plans they can join, and many still experience gaps in coverage and face medical bill problems and medical debt.
For more information, see the issue brief, “Young, Uninsured, and in Debt: Why Young Adults Lack Health Insurance and How the Affordable Care Act Is Helping: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of Young Adults, 2011.”
June 4, 2012 - More than half of Americans who have health coverage through the individual insurance market are in plans that would not meet the standards for "essential benefits" set by the Affordable Care Act. Most people enrolled in employer group plans, however, have more comprehensive coverage with less cost-sharing.
For more information, see the In the Literature, "More Than Half of Individual Health Plans Offer Coverage That Falls Short of What Can Be Sold Through Exchanges as of 2014."