Final month, the Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis-based non-profit United States of Care (USofCare) launched its state legislative wrap-up report for 2024. USofCare’s evaluation of the 2024 legislative periods revealed three developments meant to handle the healthcare affordability disaster: superior insurance policies that promote hospital accountability, defending and increasing entry to well being protection, and alternatives to innovate and enhance healthcare affordability.
The report acknowledged that legislators view rising hospital costs as the primary driver of the affordability disaster. “State legislatures pursued bipartisan options to extend hospital accountability by limiting the power of well being methods and hospitals to consolidate, defending individuals from the unfavourable impacts of already consolidated methods, and imposing necessities that sure hospitals give again to the communities they serve.” Pink and purple state legislatures noticed success with proposals to rein in hospital costs.
“Oregon’s Well being Care Market Oversight program and the Massachusetts Well being Coverage Fee’s transaction evaluation initiative served as fashions for different states to observe,” the report acknowledged. Healthcare transaction oversight permits for evaluation and approval situations that study the impact of transactions on customers.
New York and Tennessee targeting options to guard individuals from consolidated well being methods by contract clauses between well being methods and insurance coverage corporations.
Sixteen states checked out legislations that regulate facility charges. In keeping with the report, “Current polling exhibits that 74% of voters help limiting or limiting facility charges, whereas 81% of voters help requiring that facility charges be disclosed to sufferers upfront earlier than they’re seen.”
Twenty-six states thought of laws relating to medical debt, together with proposals to limit wage garnishment, cap fee plans, and ban medical debt from credit score reviews.
The report talked about that state legislatures expanded eligibility for present well being protection packages to cut back protection gaps and shield protection for crucial healthcare.
In keeping with the report, “to handle the challenges that undocumented immigrants face, a number of states thought of state-funded public insurance coverage.”
Many states additionally sought to enhance maternal well being, scale back disparities, and enhance protection for pregnant individuals by Medicaid postpartum protection extension. The report highlighted Arkansas as the one state not authorizing this extension.
The report acknowledged that healthcare spending within the U.S. is projected to succeed in $4.9 trillion by 2024. “Various state legislatures pursued insurance policies to develop new low-cost medical health insurance protection choices to supply people and their households with reliable protection. Moreover, state policymakers have explored reforms to make healthcare extra inexpensive for his or her residents by options that shield individuals from shock medical payments and medical debt, set value development targets, and enhance prescription drug affordability.”
Some states created their very own inexpensive protection choices. In Colorado, for instance, 80,655 individuals have been enrolled within the Colorado Public Well being Insurance coverage Choice. Different states explored versatile insurance policies, comparable to Medicaid buy-ins, to fulfill the wants of their residents.
In keeping with the report, “Early outcomes of Medicaid redetermination processes have sparked legislators’ curiosity find efficient approaches to protect well being care entry for the hundreds of thousands of people dropping their Medicaid protection whereas additionally addressing the wants of the remaining underinsured and uninsured populations.”
Vermont was talked about within the report for example of legislators contemplating a proposal for a public possibility for small companies. Since small companies are much less prone to provide insurance coverage protection, a state-supported public possibility might assist scale back protection gaps and permit businessesF to develop their profit packages.
The report acknowledged that one in three adults reported the lack to afford prescribed treatment. Many state legislators have applied methods to decrease prices. Some have created prescription drug affordability boards, set worth caps, or reformed pharmacy profit supervisor (PBM) practices.
USofCare concluded that voters throughout celebration strains overwhelmingly help insurance policies to curb hospital costs and implement transparency in healthcare billing. The non-profit expects policymakers to proceed to push for equity-centered insurance policies.
