Kickstand’s Post

“One significant way to enhance Americans’ health is to increase the uptake of high-value evidence-based clinical preventive services, which can help detect diseases early.” Love this so much. While the ACA has made preventive services more affordable for most, we still have much work to do to continue improving awareness, access, and connection back to high quality primary care. Here’s to each of us being part of that “last mile” that connects the policy and the evidence to the care people receive. Together we can advance preventive services and reduce health disparities.

Interested in recent health policy research? Check out Research Roundup! In April, we read studies that evaluated the cost and health equity implications of public option plans and provider price regulation. We also got caught up on self-reported insurance coverage during the Medicaid unwinding.

Americans should be able to trust their local hospitals. What many don’t realize is that these hospitals are often owned by large corporations who are only focused on making more money.   These corporations even use aggressive tactics like threatening to stop treating patients during negotiations to get higher payments from insurers. This tactic, described in a recent Third Way report, is streamlined because many hospital markets lack competition due to consolidation.   In a competitive healthcare market, insurers can choose from many hospitals and doctors to provide affordable care. However, in consolidated markets found in most American communities, hospitals have more power in negotiations. This leaves insurers with little choice but to accept higher costs or risk their patients losing access to care.   This problem worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 70,000 Houston residents lost access to St. Luke’s Health. This problem affects the 178 million Americans, like our members, who rely on employer-provided health insurance, leading to higher costs that hurt wages and consumer prices.   To address these issues, Third Way proposed banning unfair contracting practices nationwide, so patients can access affordable, high-quality care. Some states have already taken steps in the right direction, and federal lawmakers are now considering similar legislation like the Healthy Competition for Better Care Act. It’s crucial for Congress to act to ensure fair healthcare practices and protect patients and employers from escalating costs. https://lnkd.in/eFUffQNn #hospitalprices #hospitalcosts #healthcare #benefits #healthbenefits #employersponsored #medicaldebt #debt #fairprice #hospitals #BetterCareAct

One of the most talked about issues in Indiana and the nation ahead of Election Day is healthcare. Our Decision 2024 report on Hoosier healthcare explores some of the most pressing health-related issues in Indiana, including limited food access, health insurance, infant/maternal healthcare, and substance use treatment. Read the report and policy recommendations to address concerns below. https://lnkd.in/gYU8U4Rb

Oral health is a vital part of overall health – yet nearly 70 million adults in the U.S. don’t have dental insurance.     Even with insurance, dental services present the highest financial burden of any health care service. This can lead to burdensome #MedicalDebt.     The Biden administration has recently taken a step to expand access to care by finalizing a rule allowing states to include adult dental services as an essential health benefit (EHB) – and now it’s time for states to act.     “This new rule holds the potential to make dental coverage available to millions of people who do not have it,” write Kasey Wilson, MSW, Michael Matson, and Melissa Burroughs at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.     📝 Read more in Health Affairs >> https://bit.ly/3K16YRO  

Health plans, take note! Many older Americans are not utilizing online tools for their Medicare benefits. While it's true that more seniors are becoming tech-savvy, it's important to remember that a significant portion of current Medicare enrollees cannot or will not use online health tools. As a personal example, I receive my mother-in-law's Medicare Advantage plan emails because she does not use email, and it always points to online health tools with no mention of similar traditional options that she could use. Don't miss out on providing key benefits to a large portion of your audience. #Medicare #Healthcare #Insurance

Oral health is a vital part of overall health – yet nearly 70 million adults in the U.S. don’t have dental insurance.     Even with insurance, dental services present the highest financial burden of any health care service. This can lead to burdensome #MedicalDebt.     The Biden administration has recently taken a step to expand access to care by finalizing a rule allowing states to include adult dental services as an essential health benefit (EHB) – and now it’s time for states to act.     “This new rule holds the potential to make dental coverage available to millions of people who do not have it,” writes Kasey Wilson, MSW, Michael Matson, and Melissa Burroughs at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.     📝 Read more in Health Affairs >> https://bit.ly/3K16YRO  

The coverage under Obamacare that many of us now take for granted was the result of an arduous, zig-zagging journey that began in the early 1990s during the Clinton presidency, evolved into a successful state-level law in Massachusetts under Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and became national policy during President Obama’s first term, borrowing some conservative ideas from the right-wing Heritage Foundation along the way. Undoing the ACA would set American health care back a generation or more and make our shared goal of a more affordable, more accessible and more patient-centered health care system even less attainable. The beneficiaries of the law include women who now pay the same premiums as men because once upon a time, before the ACA, insurance companies could charge women more and even deny health care for the pre-existing condition of being pregnant. They’re workers who can finally get follow-up care after a serious injury or illness — and many, many others.

Interesting conversations at the Australian Private Hospitals Association National Congress - the increase in the cost of living is impacting the private healthcare sector both in relation to the affordability of private health insurance premiums and the increase in hospital workforce costs. Conversation led by Carmel Monaghan with Judith Day and Andrew Sando What can private hospitals and health insurers do together so that people can continue with the choice of private healthcare? Improved models of care, incentivise innovative care Private health insurers are seeing trends, for example a reduction in maternity. That should be shared with hospitals and included in planning. #healthlaw #private healthcare #hospitals

Paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin,”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Preventive care services are essential for halting or slowing the progression of various diseases and conditions, and evidenced based nutrition care plays an important role, particularly for conditions such as heart disease, pre-diabetes/diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Medical nutrition therapy (#MNT) delivered by #RDN is a preventive care service under #Medicare and has been shown to be an efficitive tool to prevent, treat and manage many of these conditions. #dietitians #preventivecare #nutrition 🙌🏻