Alaska Health Policy Review

Americans who have low or moderate incomes are more likely to lack health insurance and a regular source of health care, and more likely to struggle getting the care they need, according to the first Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults.

As reported in the new issue brief The Income Divide in Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Help Restore Fairness to the U.S. Health System, 57 percent of adults in low-income families (those earning less than about $30,000 for a family of four) were uninsured for some time in the past year, as were 36 percent of those in moderate-income families (earning between about $30,000 and $56,000). In contrast, just 12 percent of adults in families earning above $89,000 were uninsured during the year.

The survey finds that lack of insurance coverage, as well as income, is significantly associated with poor access to care, including receipt of crucial preventive screenings. And having insurance means the difference between having a regular source of care and not having one. “People with low and moderate incomes run the highest risk of lacking job-based health insurance, are least able to afford health insurance on their own, and are the most at risk of not being able to afford care in the absence of coverage,” said Commonwealth Fund vice president Sara Collins, Ph.D., the study’s lead author.

The authors say the Affordable Care Act is already helping to narrow the profound income inequities in the U.S. health care system—for example, by expanding health coverage for 2.5 million 19-to-25-year-olds and requiring insurers to cover preventive care without copayments. But the greatest impact will be felt in 2014, when the law greatly expands eligibility for Medicaid coverage, makes many more affordable, subsidized coverage options available through the new insurance exchanges, and prevents insurers from denying coverage or charging more based on gender or preexisting conditions.

This study is the first in The Commonwealth Fund’s new Tracking Trends in Health System Performance series, which will examine how health reform is affecting people’s health coverage and care over time.

Source: Redacted from The Commonwealth Fund 2/8/2012

Filed under: Insurance related

Alaska is second among states with the least competitive commercial health insurance market, according to a new analysis by the American Medical Association (AMA). The anti-competitive climate in Alaska means consumers and employers have fewer choices during the current open enrollment period for health insurance than consumers and employers in any other state except Alabama.

These findings were derived from Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Markets. The AMA study examined 2009 enrollment in health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations from 368 metropolitan areas and 48 states.

Premera and Aetna, the two largest health insurers in Alaska, together control 92 percent of the state’s commercial health insurance market. The new study examined Anchorage and Fairbanks and found that Premera controlled a commercial market share of about 75 percent in each metro area.

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Filed under: Insurance related

Employer-based health insurance premiums increased unexpectedly, according to the widely reported latest Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey. Premiums rose 8 percent for single coverage and 9 percent for family coverage from 2010 to 2011, up from 3 percent for 2009–2010.

Some have attributed the increase to the cost of the 2010 insurance reforms included in the Affordable Care Act. But a new analysis finds that only 1.8 percentage points of the 8 to 9 percent rise in premiums are attributable to the insurance reforms.

The authors of the Commonwealth Fund–supported study, Jon R. Gabel of the National Opinion Research Center, and Roland McDevitt and Ryan Lore of the consulting firm Towers Watson, outline their findings in a new post on The Commonwealth Fund Blog.

Source: Excerpted From The Commonwealth Fund 10/3/11

Filed under: Insurance related