Wednesday, December 10, 2003

The Medicaid Resource Book
This page provides links to chapter-length Adobe Acrobat files comprising a guide from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured - "This reference book describes four pivotal aspects of how the Medicaid program operates -- who it covers, what it covers, how it is financed, and how it is administered. It was written to assist the public and policymakers in understanding the structure and operation of the Medicaid program."  
  

Patient Cost Sharing: How Much is Too Much?
An issue brief from the Center for Studying Health System Change - "Responding to successive years of double-digit health insurance premium increases, employers continue to restructure health benefits to slow the rise in company costs by increasing patients' financial stake in their care. A new Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) study examines how increased patient cost sharing through higher deductibles, copayments and coinsurance raises patients' out-of-pocket costs. Increased patient cost sharing creates more financial burdens for seriously ill and low-income workers. Concerns about financial hardships for seriously ill and low-income workers may limit employers' ability to slow rising premiums through increased patient cost sharing..."  
  

Reducing The Growth Of Medicare Spending: Geographic Versus Patient-Based Strategies
Health Affairs article - "This paper explores the potential of two alternative approaches for reducing the rate of growth in Medicare spending. One strategy would focus on reducing the expenditures of high-spending individuals. Given that a large share of Medicare spending is consumed by relatively few beneficiaries, this approach targets the small group responsible for most of the spending. The other strategy would focus on reducing expenditures in high-spending regions. Because either approach would have to overcome major hurdles before lowering Medicare spending, the likely payoff from the alternative strategies is far from clear. Viewed from a budgetary perspective, concentration in Medicare spending suggests the importance of focusing on high-spending patients." See also Getting Serious About Excessive Medicare Spending: A Purchasing Model in the same issue.  
  

County's mental health costs (Iowa)
Mitchell County Press-News story on the county's expenditures for mental health and developmental disability servies for the past five years, based on a presentation to the Mitchell County Board of Supervisors by Bob Lincoln, the Central Point of Coordination administrator for the MH/DD management plan - "Lincoln said that there has been a lot of local pressure to reduce the cost but they can't increase the levy for tax dollars that was set in 1996, and the state doesn't have any more money to give. Lincoln said it is time to tap into federal resources such as Medicaid. The state is looking into redesigning the program and resetting the amount it will ask each county to provide for services. They are also looking into whether or not the management unit should be changed from county to a more regional unit."