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State Medicaid programs can cover tobacco cessation therapies for millions of low-income smokers in the United States, but use of this benefit is low and varies widely by state. ... Medicaid policies that require patients to obtain counseling to get medications reduced the use of cessation medications by approximately one-quarter to one-third; states that cover all types of cessation medications increased usage by approximately one-quarter to one-third. Non-Medicaid policies did not have significant effects on use levels. ... States could increase efforts to quit by developing more comprehensive coverage and reducing barriers to coverage. (Ku et al., 10/27)

Affordable Care Act provisions implemented in 2014 could have influenced employers’ decisions to offer health insurance. Using data for 2014 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey–Insurance Component, we found little change in employer-sponsored health insurance offerings: More than 95 percent of employers either continued offering coverage or continued not offering it between 2013 and 2014. Fewer than 3.5 percent of employers dropped coverage, and 1.1 percent added coverage. (Abraham, Royalty and Drake, 10/26)

We analyzed 2017 premiums and insurer participation made available through Healthcare.gov on October 24, 2017, as well as data collected from states that run their own exchange websites. ... In most parts of the country in 2016, a 40-year-old adult making $30,000 per year would pay about $208 per month for the second-lowest-silver plan. If this person is willing to switch to whatever the new second lowest-cost silver plan is in 2017, they will pay a similar amount (the after-tax credit payment for a similar person in 2017 is $207 per month or a change of 0%). ... Marketplace insurer participation in states using Healthcare.gov in 2017 ranges from 1 company in Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming, to 15 companies in Wisconsin. (Cox et al., 10/24)

This issue brief provides an overview of the 2017 PDP [Medicare prescription drug plan] marketplace, based on our analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Key findings include: The average monthly PDP premium in 2017 will increase by 9 percent from 2016, to $42.17 (weighted by 2016 plan enrollment). ... The average Part D PDP deductible is projected to rise by 7 percent. PDP premiums will continue to vary widely across plans in 2017, as in previous years. Among the ten PDPs with the highest enrollment, average premiums in 2017 will range from a low of $16.81 per month, or $202 annually, for the Humana Walmart Rx PDP to a high of $71.66 per month, or $860 annually, for the AARP Medicare Rx Preferred PDP — an annual premium difference of $658. (Hoadley, Cubanski and Neuman, 10/17)

State laws that limit how much hospitals are paid by uninsured patients provide a unique opportunity to study how financial incentives of healthcare providers affect the care they deliver. We estimate the laws reduce payments from uninsured patients by 25–30 percent. Even though the uninsured represent a small portion of their business, hospitals respond by decreasing the amount of care delivered to these patients, without measurable effects on a broad set of quality metrics. The results show that hospitals can, and do, target care based on financial considerations, and suggest that altering provider financial incentives can generate more efficient care. (Batty and Ippolito, 10/25)

In patients with stable COPD and resting or exercise-induced moderate desaturation, the prescription of long-term supplemental oxygen did not result in a longer time to death or first hospitalization than no long-term supplemental oxygen, nor did it provide sustained benefit with regard to any of the other measured outcomes. (The Long-Term Oxygen Treatment Trial Research Group, 10/27)

This report presents results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) for people aged 12 or older regarding the perceived harmfulness of using cigarettes, alcohol, and specific illicit drugs and the perceived availability of substances. ... Although more than 3 out of 4 people aged 12 or older in 2015 perceived great risk of harm from weekly use of cocaine, heroin, or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), only about one third perceived great risk from weekly marijuana use. An estimated 68.7 percent of people also perceived great risk from having four or five drinks of alcohol nearly every day, and 72.8 percent perceived great risk from smoking one or more packs of cigarettes a day. Perceptions of risk from substance use varied across age groups. (Lipari et al., 10/25)

Women of reproductive age are at the greatest risk of negative health effects from Zika virus, but current, nationally representative information on women’s knowledge about Zika is limited. This brief uses data from late-summer 2016 to explore women’s Zika awareness and concern, knowledge of Zika transmission modes, symptoms, and health effects, and actions taken to prevent Zika infection. The vast majority of women of reproductive age have knowledge gaps about Zika virus: more than half do not know that Zika can be sexually transmitted and less that one-third are aware that Zika can cause an infection with no symptoms. (Shartzer et al., 10/17)