The Commonwealth Fund

🌎 Climate Change Jeopardizes the Health of Noncitizen Workers Climate change threatens to upend worker safety and health, with noncitizen workers at a disproportionate risk. On To the Point, the Urban Institute’s Dulce Gonzalez describes the challenges facing this population — jobs that expose people to climate risk, like agriculture or construction; a fear of reporting workplace violations; language barriers; and a lack of access to health insurance. “Holes in current workplace protections, coupled with health care access barriers, threaten to limit noncitizens’ ability to weather the disproportionate impacts of exposure to climate risks at work,” the author writes. Moving forward, expanding and enforcing existing federal worker protections will be important, as will addressing barriers to care and insurance.

Most states have not yet enacted laws preventing the accrual of medical debt, but many have implemented protections for people who already have accumulated debt.

High demand, expensive out-of-pocket costs, and workforce shortages can make it challenging for many people to access critical behavioral health care – even with insurance. What can lawmakers do to ensure that mental health treatment is covered the same way as any other care? Our latest @Commonwealth Fund issue brief explores how states are enforcing and building upon the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was designed to federally safeguard behavioral health access for those with private insurance. The authors note that while the law sets a strong foundation, states could “explore complementary protections that reduce barriers to behavioral health care.” https://lnkd.in/epcxf_Yg

ICYMI: Our State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care uses the most recent data to assess how well the health care system is working for women in every U.S. state. We measured performance by 32 different metrics across three areas: health outcomes; health care quality and prevention; and coverage, access, and affordability. T his report presents state rankings for each area.

U.S. Women’s Life Expectancy and Access to Affordable Health Care Trail Other Countries Women in the U.S. face significantly worse health outcomes and access to care than those in other countries, with notable access disparities among Black and Hispanic women, a new Commonwealth Fund study finds. Health Care for Women: How the U.S. Compares Internationally reveals how the U.S. performs against other countries across a variety of critical measures such as life expectancy, avoidable deaths, rates of illness, and mental health. Among the key findings: *American women have the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of avoidable deaths — more than triple the rate in Japan and Korea. *More than a quarter of women in the U.S. take four or more prescription medications regularly, compared to fewer than one in 10 women in Germany. *The U.S. is the only high-income nation where a considerable percentage of women are uninsured, including over a quarter of Hispanic women. Despite the discouraging data, the report notes policymakers have a number of options that could greatly improve women’s health and health care in the United States.

We've long known that U.S. women's health care lags far behind other high-income nations. But just how bad is it?   A new The Commonwealth Fund study compares health care access and outcomes across several countries, revealing stark disparities for American women.   Key findings include: o  American women have the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of avoidable deaths – more than triple the rate in Japan and Korea, and more than double that of five other nations. o  Women in the U.S. have among the highest rates of mental health and social needs and are more likely to take multiple prescriptions regularly. The U.S. is the only country in the analysis where a considerable percentage of women are uninsured, including over a quarter of Hispanic women. o  U.S. women have some of the lowest access to regular care and the highest rates of unnecessary emergency room visits, with Black women more likely to visit ERs for unnecessary care than white women. Along with my colleages, Relebohile Masitha, MSc, CPH and Laurie Zephyrin, we examine the findings and potential policy solutions to improve women’s health for generations to come: https://lnkd.in/dtsDrFgV

How Will the November Election Affect Women’s Health? In the U.S., a woman’s access to essential health care — including abortion and other reproductive health services — largely depends on where she lives. The state she lives in determines how likely she is to have a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery, as well as her risk of dying from preventable causes like substance use and certain cancers. The outcome of the 2024 election could further fracture or improve the landscape of women’s health care. In a new explainer, researchers from The Commonwealth Fund examine the potential impact of the election on: ☂️ coverage 🙋🏻♀️ access to women’s health care 📊 women’s health disparities, and more. Voters “face a choice between two starkly different approaches, one that is likely to have a direct impact on the health of American women,” the authors write.

More than 650,000 people were homeless in the U.S. in 2023 — the highest number since the federal government started tracking the data. As states grapple with rising homelessness, street medicine programs can help address health needs and connect people to the resources they need to become stably housed. On To the Point, The Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Federman and Akeiisa Coleman explain how a recent federal change could help expand street medicine’s reach through #Medicare and #Medicaid. More work is needed from state policymakers to support this, though, including: 📚 Educating providers about the change and offering technical assistance for billing 💰 Ensuring sufficient payment rates for street medicine services ✅ Making it easier for people who are homeless to enroll in and maintain Medicaid coverage.

Why do some countries' health systems excel while the U.S. falters? Discover the answers at #Concordia24 as we dive into a new comparative analysis of health system performance across 10 high-income countries. We’ll explore access to care, care processes, administrative efficiency, equity, and outcomes using data from the Commonwealth Fund, OECD, and WHO. Learn why countries like the Netherlands and Australia lead, and what can be done to advance health equity in the U.S. and globally. Join us at #Concordia24 to engage with our Core Programming Partner The Commonwealth Fund as they lead this critical conversation. #HealthcareInnovation #GlobalHealth #PatientEmpowerment #HealthEquity

We know #primarycare matters for population health and health equity. Yet, the U.S. spends only 5-7% of every health care dollar on it. Over a third of states have taken steps to address this problem by increasing investment in primary care. A recent report from Freedman HealthCare, looking at Massachusetts, suggests that increasing spending on primary care could improve quality without increasing overall spending. The analysis found that provider organizations in Massachusetts with higher primary care investment as a percentage of total spending performed significantly better on quality and had significantly lower spending on inpatient and outpatient hospital services. Read the full report below!