Strategic Planning & Timelines

Prescription drug growth rates declined from 2000 to 2013, in part due to patent expiries and decreases in generic prices. This downward trend appears to be reversing; spending on prescriptions is estimated to have spiked upwards in 2014 and 2015 with grow rates of 11.6% and 6.8% respectively. This article explores the current trends in prescription drug spending.

This report examines the ACA’s target population of consumers who were uninsured before the law’s main coverage provisions took effect in 2014. In every state, tax returns were filed for 56% or more of those who now qualify for Medicaid and 84% or more of those eligible for health insurance tax credits. The minority of tax preparers who help their clients apply for health coverage have developed several effective models. States could test the impact of measures to increase tax preparation services’ contribution to enrollment while guarding against unethical or incompetent conduct. Federal policy could also play an important role.

Through reforms to cost containment and expanded access to health insurance plans, the ACA has begun to shape the delivery and cost of healthcare services to Americans. Many of these reforms are still taking hold, and it is too soon to completely know how they are affecting the healthcare system. But looking beyond these considerations, it appears that many enduring economic challenges persist in the markets that provide health care and health insurance to consumers. This paper offers six economic facts that highlight continuing challenges and complexities in health care and health insurance markets on which the policy debate should focus.

According to the most recent Commonwealth Fund ACA Tracking Survey, March–May 2015, an estimated 25 million adults remain uninsured. To achieve the ACA’s goal of near-universal coverage, policymakers must understand why some people are enrolling in the law’s marketplace plans or in Medicaid coverage and why others are not. This analysis of the survey finds that affordability—whether real or perceived—is playing a significant role in adults’ choice of marketplace plans and the decision whether to enroll at all. People who have gained coverage report significantly more positive experiences shopping for health plans than do those who did not enroll. Getting personal assistance appears to make a critical difference in whether people gain health insurance.

This brief describes the outreach and enrollment strategies that enrollment assisters can use to help people involved in the criminal justice system get health coverage. By focusing on this population, assisters will not only help these individuals enroll in health coverage and receive needed care, they will reach and enroll more uninsured consumers. Enrollment assisters in many states are working to help the justice-involved population enroll in health coverage. This brief provides an overview of why it is important to focus on this population and offers assisters tangible steps to begin this work.