Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Changes Afoot In How Employers Provide Health Coverage For Workers
As workers are increasingly asked to pay more from their own pockets for employer-sponsored health plans, there's a big shift happening in how businesses are planning to offer health insurance. About 6 million Americans with workplace coverage in 2014 received their health insurance through privately run health insurance exchanges, where employees can select coverage from a number of health plans — double the number from the year before, according to a new report from Accenture. (Millman, 4/7)
A growing number of Americans are no longer getting health insurance directly from work as companies quit administering benefits, sending about 40 million people to shop for their own coverage by 2018, a new study estimates. Instead of picking a companywide health plan, employers are increasingly giving workers financial support to choose their own from a menu of options. For 2015, 6 million workers selected coverage from markets run by private benefits administrators, according to a study from Accenture. (Tracer, 4/7)
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at the higher costs of cancer drugs for the uninsured, and Modern Healthcare reports how new mental health parity rules for Medicaid don't address the dearth of providers -
Doctors may charge uninsured patients anywhere from two to 43 times what private insurance plans or Medicare pay for chemotherapy drugs, a new study estimates. Researchers said the findings, reported in the April issue of Health Affairs, highlight a fundamental inequity. (Norton, 4/7)
Proposed regulations ensuring mental health parity in Medicaid managed care plans promise better coverage for important services like substance-abuse counseling—at least for beneficiaries who have providers. But the CMS rules won't guarantee more providers will participate. (Dickson, 4/7)
