Massachusetts Seeks to Rein in Health Spending – WSJ.com

No state, or initiative of the federal government, has implemented such a broad effort, said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, and “there will be a lot of attention to what Massachusetts is doing.”

The rate of growth in spending on health—initially set to parallel the growth of the state’s overall economy as measured by its gross domestic product—would be enforced by a regulatory authority. Health-care providers and health plans that the regulator found to be pushing spending above the goal would have to submit improvement plans to bring expenses down.

via Massachusetts Seeks to Rein in Health Spending – WSJ.com.

How Deval Patrick Gutted Romneycare’s Market-Oriented Health Reforms – Forbes

as Jennifer Heldt Powell and Josh Archambault describe in a new book, The Great Experiment, it was Democrats and progressive activists who ended up implementing the Massachusetts health law, especially after Romney left office in January 2007. They took the law in a much different direction than Romney would have liked. And while Democrats have sought to credit (or blame) Romney for the passage of Obamacare, it is more accurate to say that the federal Affordable Care Act is modeled after the Democratically implemented version of the Massachusetts law, as opposed to the one that Romney had sought.

via How Deval Patrick Gutted Romneycare’s Market-Oriented Health Reforms – Forbes.

Attorney General Martha Coakley circulating plan to control health care costs – The Boston Globe

Coakley’s staff has drafted legislation and has briefed providers, business leaders, key legislators, and the governor’s office on the plan to contain health care spending.

Providers and insurers would have to provide detailed price information to patients before they undergo a test or treatment, and the Division of Insurance and Department of Public Health would have new authority to limit the prices and market power of providers under Coakley’s proposal.

via Attorney General Martha Coakley circulating plan to control health care costs – The Boston Globe.

Pioneer Institute ›› Massachusetts Public Policy Research

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of ObamaCare last week. Read the amicus brief that Pioneer signed opposing the individual mandate. Pioneer’s new book, The Great Experiment: The States, the Feds, and Your Health Care, calls for state-led reforms as an alternative to the federal law.

via Pioneer Institute ›› Massachusetts Public Policy Research.

What’s at Stake in the Supreme Court’s Health Care Decisions – ProPublica

Today the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments on the health care reform law. Here we map the possible outcomes, following the Court’s schedule over the next three days. The Court will hear all three days of arguments, even if they eventually decide not to decide the bulk of the case, and is unlikely to issue a decision on the case until late June or early July.

For more information on different states’ progress implementing health care reforms, see this comprehensive list.

via What’s at Stake in the Supreme Court’s Health Care Decisions – ProPublica.

PIPES: Romney-fication of health care reform – Washington Times

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick just exhorted legislators to overhaul the way the state pays for health care. He’s pushing for an end to the traditional arrangement of compensating doctors and hospitals for each service they provide.

It’s not yet clear what will replace this “fee-for-service” payment system. But there’s growing support for a “global budget” model, under which primary care physicians would receive annual lump sums for each of their patients – regardless of how little or how much care they needed.

via PIPES: Romney-fication of health care reform – Washington Times.

New Data: The Affordable Care Act in Your State | The White House

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Amy is one of 105 million Americans – and nearly 1.2 million Iowans – with private health insurance who no longer will face lifetime limits on their care. You can read the Department of Health and Human Services’ latest research on the number of people who no longer have a lifetime limit on their insurance plan here.

This lifetime limit ban is just one of many new consumer protections created by the new law. Annual dollar limits on coverage are being phased out. And 54 million Americans received new coverage of prevention without cost sharing in 2011.

Today, the Obama Administration released a new source of data, Health Reform: Results in Your State, to show how the law’s benefits and protections are helping Americans across the country. To see how many people in your state are benefiting from the Affordable Care Act, click here (23.5KB XLSX file).

via New Data: The Affordable Care Act in Your State | The White House.

Obama administration concludes healthcare law waiver review – The Hill’s Healthwatch

The Obama administration on Thursday denied Wisconsin’s request for a waiver from the healthcare law’s medical loss ratio, while partially approving North Carolina’s.

With the two decisions, the Department of Health and Human Services has concluded its review of the 17 states that have requested a waiver from the law’s requirement that individual market insurance plans spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care or give customers rebates.

HHS has rejected 10 requests and approved modified applications from seven states.

via Obama administration concludes healthcare law waiver review – The Hill’s Healthwatch.

States Under Pressure As Health Law Deadlines Approach – Kaiser Health News

The health law’s biggest changes don’t take effect until 2014, when states and insurers must be ready to begin signing up an estimated 32 million people in Medicaid and private insurance. But a successful rollout in two years hinges on critical decisions that states must make – and take quick action on – this year.

via States Under Pressure As Health Law Deadlines Approach – Kaiser Health News.

Health Reform, Health Insurance, and Selection: Estimating Selection into Health Insurance Using the Massachusetts Health Reform

We implement an empirical test for selection into health insurance using changes in coverage induced by the introduction of mandated health insurance in Massachusetts. Our test examines changes in the cost of the newly insured relative to those who were insured prior to the reform. We find that counties with larger increases in insurance coverage over the reform period face the smallest increase in average hospital costs for the insured population, consistent with adverse selection into insurance before the reform. Additional results, incorporating cross-state variation and data on health measures, provide further evidence for adverse selection.

via Health Reform, Health Insurance, and Selection: Estimating Selection into Health Insurance Using the Massachusetts Health Reform.