Source: Congressional Budget Office
Private Health Insurance Premiums and Rate Reviews (PDF)
Health insurance premiums have been trending up, while the value of coverage has trended down. Available data indicate that both administrative and medical costs continue to rise, but the rate of
growth in these expenses slowed between 2008 and 2009. The data also suggest that the rise in medical costs is primarily attributable to the price of services, not increased utilization.
Source: Health Affairs
Pronounced Gender And Age Differences Are Evident In Personal Health Care Spending Per Person
This paper examines differences in national health care spending by gender and age. Our research found significant variations in per person spending by gender across age groups, health services, and types of payers. For example, in 2004 per capita health care spending for females was 32 percent more than for males. Per capita differences were most pronounced among the working-age population, largely because of spending for maternity care. Except for children, total spending for and by females was greater than that for and by males, for most services and payers. The gender difference in total spending was most pronounced in the elderly, as a result of the longer life expectancy of women.
| Service/age group (years) | Total spending (billions of dollars) | Per capita spending (dollars) | ||
| Females | Males | Females | Males | |
| All personal health care | $887.9 | $662.0 | $ 5,989 | $ 4,541 |
| 0–18 | 99.5 | 108.8 | 2,620 | 2,736 |
| 19–64 | 464.9 | 345.5 | 5,202 | 3,797 |
| 65+ | 323.4 | 207.7 | 15,493 | 13,809 |
Source: MetLife
The Essentials: Adult Day Services
Coping with a chronic illness or disability that impacts one’s independence, ability to manage daily activities, and opportunity to socialize with others can be overwhelming for an individual. Chronic illness and disability also significantly impact the family members that provide support and care to him or her. Family caregivers are often juggling caregiving with the many other demands in their lives, often both at home and at work.
Finding care resources to meet your needs or those of a loved one is not always easy and it can be very costly both at home, depending upon the level of care needed, or in a residential care setting such as an assisted living community or a nursing home. Most people want to remain at home if possible. One option to consider is Adult Day Services (ADS). These centers have two primary missions: 1) to provide individuals with needed care, socialization, and supervision in a community setting and 2) to provide caregivers respite from the demanding responsibilities of caregiving.
Source: National Public Radio
This interactive database, an NPR News exclusive, has information about the independence level of residents at nearly 16,000 individual nursing homes around the country. For each facility, see what percentage of residents can do various daily living tasks by themselves — an indication of their potential for community-based living.
Source: MetLife
The 2010 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs
This survey provides national, statewide, and, in certain states (based on population), area-specific costs, average private-pay, daily rates for private and semi-private rooms in a nursing home, monthly base rates in assisted living communities, hourly rates for home health aide and homemaker services, and daily rates for adult day services
Source: Deloitte
Distributions from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to pay for a medicine or drug will not be qualified medical expenses unless the medicine or drug:
- can be obtained only with a prescription
- is available without a prescription (i.e., “over-the-counter”) but the individual obtains it with a prescription, or
- is insulin.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Medicare Advantage 2011 Data Spotlight: Plan Availability and Premiums
This Medicare Advantage Data Spotlight provides an overview of recent changes made to the Medicare Advantage program and examines trends in plan participation, premiums and certain benefits. About 12 million people, or nearly a quarter of the Medicare population, are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, the privately administered plans that are an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program.
Source: healthinsuranceinfo.net
healthinsuranceinfo.net carries Health Insurance Consumer Guides for all Fifty States and the District of Columbia, letting you know in a simple and straightforward format what protections you have, and lack, if you need to find individual health insurance coverage after a major life event like divorce, losing a job, or the company you work for going out of business
Source: HealthCare.gov
HealthCare.gov now has a convenient search for pricing data on health insurance plans. It currently has data on 200 insurance providers and 4,400 insurance plans.
Source: Department of Veterans Affairs
This website describes the wide range of updated benefits that are available to U.S. military veterans.
Source: Congressional Budget Office
According to CBO’s analysis of survey data, health care spending per adult grew substantially in all weight categories between 1987 and 2007, but the rate of growth was much more rapid among the obese (defined as those with a body-mass index greater than or equal to 30). Spending per capita for obese adults exceeded spending for adults of normal weight by about 8 percent in 1987 and by about 38 percent in 2007. That increasing gap in spending between the two groups probably reflects a combination of factors, including changes in the average health status of the obese population and technological advances that offer new, costly treatments for conditions that are particularly common among obese individuals.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, and other relevant information. The survey continued to document the prevalence of high-deductible health plans associated with a savings option and included questions on wellness benefits and health risk assessments. The 2010 survey included 3,143 randomly selected public and private firms with three or more employees (2,046 of which responded to the full survey and 1,097 of which responded to an additional question about offering coverage). Researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, and Health Research & Educational Trust designed and analyzed the survey.
Source: IRS Press Release
IR-2010-95, Sept. 3, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued guidance reflecting statutory changes regarding the use of certain tax-favored arrangements, such as flexible spending arrangements (FSAs), to pay for over-the-counter medicines and drugs.
The Affordable Care Act, enacted in March, established a new uniform standard that, effective Jan. 1, 2011, applies to FSAs and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Under the new standard, the cost of an over-the-counter medicine or drug cannot be reimbursed from the account unless a prescription is obtained. The change does not affect insulin, even if purchased without a prescription, or other health care expenses such as medical devices, eye glasses, contact lenses, co-pays and deductibles. The new standard applies only to purchases made on or after Jan. 1, 2011, so claims for medicines or drugs purchased without a prescription in 2010 can still be reimbursed in 2011, if allowed by the employer’s plan.A similar rule goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2011 for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Archer Medical Savings Accounts (Archer MSAs).
Employers and employees should take these changes into account as they make health benefit decisions for 2011.
For details on current rules, see Publication 969 , Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans.
Updates on this and other health care reform provisions can be found on the Affordable Care Act page on IRS.gov. Notice 2010-59 andRevenue Ruling 2010-23, posted today, further explains this change.
Related Item: Questions and Answers on Over-the-Counter Medicines and Drugs
Source: Whitehouse
New Resources for Employers and Unions to Help Keep Health Coverage Accessible and Affordable
Posted by Secretary Gary Locke on August 31, 2010 at 10:58 AM EDT
If you are an employer, you know how difficult it can be to find – and provide– health insurance for your retired employees who are age 55 or older and not yet eligible for Medicare.
Some Americans who retire before they are eligible for Medicare see their life savings disappear because of medical bills and exorbitant rates in the individual health insurance market. And the cost of insurance can be out of reach for individuals looking to buy health coverage on their own.
Many employers would like to help their employees make this transition comfortably and provide access to health insurance past retirement. But in these tough economic times, it is difficult for employers to keep up with skyrocketing health care costs for employees and retirees.
The Affordable Care Act’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program will make it a little easier for employers to provide high-quality health benefits to their retirees.
Source: HHS.gov
New insurance finder web tool simplifies the process of searching for health coverage
WASHINGTON, DC- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the release of a new HealthCare.gov web tool available for download that makes searching for coverage options even easier than before.
“HealthCare.gov is a valuable resource for small businesses, consumers, and their families to search for coverage options and understand the new benefits under the Affordable Care Act,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. “By putting the power of information at your fingertips, HealthCare.gov is helping American families everywhere to take control over their health care and make the choices that are right for them.”
The Insurance Finder “widget” enables anyone with a website or blog to embed a tool on their site allowing users to begin the process of searching for coverage options. The tool asks users two initial questions: “select a state” and “which best describes you.” Users then click on “next steps,” and are redirected to a page on HealthCare.gov that continues with the insurance finder process based on answers to their specific questions.
To view the widget and the embed code, visit this page: http://www.healthcare.gov/stay_connected.html
HealthCare.gov allows consumers to search for both public and private health coverage options through an easy to use health insurance finder tool. Based on answers to a series of questions, the coverage finder produces a menu of potential coverage choices personalized for the user.
Source: Kaiser Health News
Jennifer Richards of Park Ridge, Ill., is angry that her family’s monthly health insurance bill tripled in August to $1,250 after her husband lost his job and health benefits. But as bad as that is, what really upsets her is the inaction of Congress.
Deficit-conscious lawmakers have not renewed a subsidy that helped many jobless Americans afford health benefits. A longstanding federal law called COBRA requires employers to continue insurance for former employees, typically for 18 more months, if they pay the entire premium plus a two percent administrative fee. Last year, Congress approved a 65% COBRA premium subsidy, but it ended May 31.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Health Care Spending: 1998, 2003, and 2008
How have rising health care costs affected household budgets? That question was raised many times before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, whose goal—as the act’s name implies—is to make health care more affordable for American families.[1] This analysis of Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) data from the 1998, 2003, and 2008 Interview Surveys provides a picture of nominal out-of-pocket health care spending among households categorized by the age of the reference person.[2] The expenses analyzed were total health care and its components: health insurance, medical services, prescription drugs, and medical supplies. Among the findings are the following:
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation has listed survey data on the cost of employer supported health insurance for 2009.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Recent Premium Increases Imposed by Insurers Averaged 20% for People Who Buy Their Own Health Insurance, Kaiser Survey Finds
People who buy their own insurance report that their insurers most recently requested premium increases averaging 20 percent, according to a new Kaiser survey examining the experiences and views of people who buy health coverage in the non-group or individual market.
Overall roughly three in four people (77 percent) with non-group coverage report facing a premium increase with a current or previous insurer. Most say they paid the increase, but 16 percent of all policyholders say they switched plans, either buying a less expensive policy from their current insurer or switching companies altogether. After these so-called “buy downs” are taken into account, people who faced a premium increase ended up paying 13 percent more than before.
Many of those facing a premium increase who switched to a cheaper policy are now getting less comprehensive coverage than they were before. The survey found that those who switched are more than four times as likely to say their new plan offers worse benefits than their previous plan (49 percent) as they are to say their new plan’s benefits are better (11 percent).
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Survey of People Who Purchase Their Own Insurance
While most people in the U.S. get health insurance through their employer, about 14 million people under age 65 have coverage through the non-group or individual market, which has faced scrutiny recently in news reports about some insurers’ steep rate increases and in the market reforms in the new health reform law that will take effect in 2014.
This survey provides insight into the current state of the non-group market and finds policyholders report that their insurers most recently requested premium increases averaging 20 percent. Most say they paid the increase, but some say they switched plans, either buying a less expensive policy from their current insurer or switching companies altogether.
The survey also provides national data on the average premiums and deductibles reported by people who buy their own coverage in the non-group market. It examines policyholders’ views and experiences with non-group coverage and a focused look at the issues facing policyholders with pre-existing conditions.
The survey involved a nationally representative random sample of 1,038 people ages 18-64 who purchase their own health coverage, conducted between March 19 and April 2, 2010.
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