Health Policy Commons^™

Saving Money: The Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation Medicaid Benefit: A Policy Paper, Leighton C. Ku, David Zauche, E. Ripley Forbes

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

In the United States, about 70% of smokers want to quit and 50% make a quit attempt each year. Unfortunately, only a small percent are successful, due in part to the lack of easy access to tobacco dependence treatments that have been proven effective. In light of the societal costs of tobacco-related illness, government must do everything it can to encourage and enable smokers to quit.

The tobacco use landscape in this country has changed in recent years -- people with lower income and education levels have a much higher probability of smoking. For instance, the smoking rate for those …

The Return On Investment Of A Medicaid Tobacco Cessation Program In Massachusetts, Patrick Richard, Kristina West, Leighton Ku

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Background and Objective

A high proportion of low-income people insured by the Medicaid program smoke. Earlier research concerning a comprehensive tobacco cessation program implemented by the state of Massachusetts indicated that it was successful in reducing smoking prevalence and those who received tobacco cessation benefits had lower rates of in-patient admissions for cardiovascular conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, coronary atherosclerosis and non-specific chest pain. This study estimates the costs of the tobacco cessation benefit and the short-term Medicaid savings attributable to the aversion of inpatient hospitalization for cardiovascular conditions.

Methods

A cost-benefit analysis approach was used to estimate the program's …

Gender And Race Wage Gaps Attributable To Obesity, Avi Dor, Christine Ferguson, Ellen Tan, Lucas Divine, Jo Palmer

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Currently, two out of three Americans are overweight or obese. In less than 20 years, roughly half of the population will be obese. Furthermore, obesity costs $168.4 billion a year, a number which is projected to increase by $48-66 billion per year. The societal costs of obesity are clear and staggering and the individual costs are equally chilling for most of those who are obese – particularly for Hispanic men and Caucasian and Hispanic women.

The Economic Burden Of Health Inequalities In The United States, Thomas A. Laveist, Darrell J. Gaskin, Patrick Richard

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

This study, commissioned by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and carried out by leading researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, provides important insight into how much of a financial burden racial disparities are putting on our health care system and society at large. The researchers examined the direct costs associated with the provision of care to a sicker and more disadvantaged population, as well as the indirect costs of health inequities such as lost productivity, lost wages, absenteeism, family leave, and premature death.

Primary And Preventive Healthcare: A Critical Path To Healthcare Reform For Florida: The Role Of Florida's Fqhcs, Sara J. Rosenbaum, Peter Shin, Brad Finnegan, Ramona Whittington

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Florida's health care system faces numerous challenges: a high proportion of residents without health insurance, a declining supply of primary care physicians at the same time that the state faces a growing need for high quality and cost efficient care for uninsured persons, and a growing emphasis on medical homes, especially for culturally diverse patients with complex chronic conditions. Nearly 3.8 million Florida residents lack health insurance, while more than 8 million lack access to a regular source of primary health care.

Assuring access to timely and high quality primary health care is a key dimension of any health reform …

Second-Generation Consumerism: Increasing Consumer Activation To Improve Health Outcomes And Lower Costs For Patients With Chronic Disease, Judith H. Hibbard, Katherine J. Hayes

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

With health care costs increasing, some policymakers have sought to make patients better health care consumers through increased cost-sharing linked with greater information on the cost of care. These may be successful cost containment strategies in the short term. But patients are just as likely to forgo necessary as unnecessary care, which ultimately leads to greater demand for more intensive and expensive care in the long term. Patients can, however, play an important role in preventing the onset of chronic conditions or preventing deterioration in health once they have been diagnosed with a chronic condition. In this chapter we discuss …

Primer On Medicare Advantage Payments In 2008, Brian Biles, Emily Adrion

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) included provision intended to increase the role of private health plans in Medicare. These provisions, building on policies adopted earlier in 1997 and 2000, set Medicare Advantage (MA) plan benchmark rates at levels higher than average costs in tradition free-for-service Medicare in every county in the nation. The total amount of extra payments to Medicare Advantage plans resulting from these policies total over $8.5 billion in 2008 and over $82 billion over the five year period between 2009 and 2013.

This briefing paper outlines the three major Medicare policies that generate these extra …

Ensuring The Use Of Federal Assets In Public Health Emergencies: The Role Of The Federal Tort Claims Act In Enabling The Responsiveness Of Federally Funded Community Health Centers, Rebecca L. Katz, Melissa M. Goldstein, A. Seiji Hayashi

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Monitoring The Health Care Safety Net: Developing Data-Driven Capabilities To Support Policymaking, Robin M. Weinick, Peter Shin

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Health care organizations are now emphasizing evidence-based medicine, which involves using research findings on the effectiveness of various practices to help make treatment decisions for patients. A parallel practice that is receiving increased attention is using data and the findings from data analysis to inform the policymaking process. The data-driven policy framework presented here involves an explicit statement of priorities and policy questions to be answered by new and existing data and provides general guidance for using data to support the process of developing policy options for the health care safety net.

Covering The Uninsured: What Is It Worth?, Wilhelmine Miller, Elizabeth Richardson Vigdor, Willard G. Manning

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

One out of six Americans under age sixty-five lacks health insurance, a situation that imposes sizable hidden costs upon society. The poorer health and shorter lives of those without coverage account for most of these costs. Other impacts are manifested by Medicare and disability support payments, demands on the public health infrastructure, and losses of local health service capacity. We conclude that the estimated value of health forgone each year because of uninsurance ($65?$130 billion) constitutes a lower-bound estimate of economic losses resulting from the present level of uninsurance nationally.

Health Coverage In Massachusetts: Far To Go, Farther To Fall, Sara J. Rosenbaum, Jeanne Lambrew, Peter Shin, Marsha Regenstein, Tanya Ehrmann, Dylan Roby

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

This analysis has been prepared to highlight the state's experience in health reform and describe the challenges that it now faces. It recommends a renewed commitment to maintaining and strengthening the reforms that have made Massachusetts one of the nation's health policy leaders. This analysis does not focus on comprehensive health reform, although we believe that the cost and coverage problems that plague the Massachusetts health system (as well as that of every other state) would be most effectively addressed through broader restructuring aimed at achieving universal coverage and more decisive control over expenditures. In this report, we instead focus …