Rate Regulation
Rate Regulation Can Help Redirect Providers to Compete on Non-Price Dimensions of Care
Robert Murray, Senior Health Policy Researcher July 8, 2022
This Blog provides supplementary comments on the recent Health Affairs article entitled “How Price Regulation Is Needed To Advance Market Competition” authored by Robert Berenson and Robert Murray.[1] The idea for the article was stimulated by conversations Bob Berenson and I have had in recent years regarding government administered pricing systems and market competition. Conventional U.S. health policy has asserted that these two approaches represent mutually exclusive strategies to address the issue of high and rapidly rising commercial health care prices. In our Health Affairs article, we attempt to refute …
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The Source Roundup: June 2022 Edition
Enne Mae Guerrero, Graduate Research Fellow June 1, 2022
This month’s Roundup highlights articles and reports discussing the need for improved, adequate monitoring of healthcare consolidation, including 1) vertical integration and joint contracting between physicians and hospital and 2) pharmaceutical mergers. We also examine articles studying healthcare cost affordability, specifically 3) the significant disparities in prices paid to hospitals by private plans and Medicare and 4) California’s improvements in healthcare affordability and access. Finally, we look at some proposed cost containment strategies such as 5) key areas to improve competition to reduce costs and 6) price caps on out-of-network …
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California Pushes Ahead the Office of Health Care Affordability with Renewed Budgetary Support
Enne Mae Guerrero, Graduate Research Fellow March 15, 2022
Healthcare costs have grown exponentially in California[1], and Californians have indicated that it is a core issue they want the Governor and Legislature to address and remedy. In a 2021 poll, Californians expressed almost unanimous demand for action, as 82% of Californians said it is “extremely” or “very” important for the Governor and Legislature to make health care more affordable.[2] While rising healthcare costs seem to be a national problem, Californians pay more for common health services than the rest of the country, with an additional cost disparity between northern …
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The Source Roundup: February 2022 Edition
Hannah Park, Student Fellow February 1, 2022
This month’s roundup focuses on articles and reports highlighting new research and insights relating to the high and rising costs of health care, which remain a major regulatory challenge for state and federal policymakers across the nation. First, we examine 1) research discussing potential strategies for price regulation and how it could support market competition, as well as 2) proposals for price growth caps via insurance rate review. Also highlighted in this month’s roundup are studies on healthcare costs, specifically 3) state-level trends in the overall cost of employer health …
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The Source Roundup: March 2021 Edition
Alex Montague, Health Policy Researcher March 1, 2021
Happy March! This month’s roundup focuses on health policy pieces and reports that examine 1) the future of value-based care, 2) the efficacy of various policy options to address healthcare prices, including increasing price transparency and market competition, 3) comparisons of brand-name drug prices, and 4) the impact of the Affordable Care Act on uninsured young adults. Valued-Based Reform In a white paper published this past month, The Future of Value-Based Payment: A Road Map to 2030, researchers from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University …
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Health Affairs Blog Posts Highlight the Database of State Laws Impacting Healthcare Cost and Quality
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 14, 2021
The Source kicked off the New Year with a trio of blog posts in the Health Affairs Blog that highlights the Database of State Laws Impacting Healthcare Cost and Quality (SLIHCQ). The SLIHCQ Database was developed in partnership with the Catalyst for Payment Reform (“CPR”) and is an interactive tool that hosts ongoing state legislative efforts to implement healthcare reform. It is intuitively designed to allow policymakers and other stakeholders to customize and filter their searches by key issue and state. In collaboration with CPR, The Source Executive Editor Jaime …
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Rate Regulation in California: AB 2118 Makes Strides, But Falls Short of Comprehensive Rate Review
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher October 26, 2020
In the 2020 legislative session, the California legislature enacted AB 2118 to require insurance companies selling insurance plans in the individual or small group market in California to file additional information, including premiums, cost sharing, benefits, enrollment, and trend factors, with the state Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) or the California Department of Insurance (CDI).[1] This new law reflects an effort to give state agencies better oversight of state healthcare markets by patching small holes in the rate review process of state regulators. However, the time may be ripe …
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The Source Roundup: June 2020 Edition
Kendall Kohlmeyer, Student Fellow June 1, 2020
The Source continues to extend wishes of safety and good health to you and your loved ones during this uniquely challenging time. Despite the reality that much of the healthcare industry suffers financial catastrophe due to the pandemic, experts note improvements in some areas. Authors this month expect some advancements to last and suggest how the U.S. should use them to diminish costs. Changes in Telehealth Will Likely Outlast the Pandemic In JAMA’s Implications for Telehealth in a Postpandemic Future, Carmel Shachar and co-authors affirm positive outcomes that the …
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[Press Release] States Increasingly Turn to Legislation to Promote Competition and Control Health Care Prices, Per New Analysis from CPR and UC Hastings
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 25, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – February 25, 2020 – High commercial health care prices are a main driver of US health care spending, due in large part to consolidation among providers. While employers, other health care purchasers and payers can drive competition in the marketplace through benefit and provider network design, public policies can also strengthen and support those efforts. Catalyst for Payment Reform and The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition at UC Hastings College of the Law have catalogued state measures to enhance market competitiveness and control costs through legislation. The report, State Policies …
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[Publication] Addressing Health Care Market Consolidation and High Prices: The Role of the States
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 13, 2020
Urban Institute Research Report (January 2020) “Addressing Health Care Market Consolidation and High Prices The Role of the States” Authors: Robert A. Berenson, Jaime S. King, Katherine L. Gudiksen, Roslyn Murray, Adele Shartzer
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