Editors Desk

The National Business Group on Health is out with its health benefits survey of large employers and what they are expecting in 2016.  The group received answers from 140 employers that collectively employ 7.6 million people.

Here are five of the key findings:

1) Rate of increase is holding steady. By adopting consumer-directed health plans (high deductibles combined with health savings accounts, FSAs, and other financial accounts) and wellness programs, they expect their 2016 health care costs to increase by 5%, which is the same rate of increase as in 2014 and 2015.  Of those surveyed, 43% identified high-cost claimants as the biggest driver of their health care costs.

For a method that transcends distance, there are a lot of dustups over turf when it comes to telemedicine, as Managed Care made clear in our June issue. Managed Care’s July issue (coming soon!) gives telemedicine the cover story treatment, and with good reason. Videoconferencing, text messaging, email (and now, even Facebook—but more on that below) means that a treatment option that’s been called “the next big thing” since at least the Clinton administration (Bill, that is; no jumping the gun) may have finally passed the audition. Well, maybe.

As Kaiser Health News pointed out recently, significant roadblocks remain. The population that’s most homebound and physically impaired—the demographic that could really benefit from this technology—lacks access. Fewer than 1% of Medicare beneficiaries get care remotely. That, for a lot of reasons, as Kaiser points out, the primary one being that Congress said “no,” concerned that telemedicine could lead to overutilization and more costs.

3: Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon have authorized state-run exchanges but are using the federal exchange for many enrollment functions. If King prevails, it’s not clear how the court decision will affect these three states.

3: As Lyle Denniston and others have written, the premium subsidies at issue in King v. Burwell are one of the legs of the ACA’s three-legged stool. The other two are the individual mandate and the rules against denying or pricing insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

ACA supporters say that if court rules in favor of King, the premiums will become unaffordable and the insurance markets that the ACA has created will go into a death spiral of fewer and fewer participants and higher and higher premiums.

The law’s critics note, though, that the effect of the ruling against the insurance subsidies will depend on how Congress responds and, moreover, it’s in the interest of ACA supporters to paint a scary picture of the consequences of a ruling against the premium subsidies.

4: “….established by the State.” King v. Burwell hinges on those four words in the ACA.

A 653-page rule handed down yesterday by CMS definitely represents one giant step for Medicaid managed care, and a step taken (for the most part) in the right direction, according to one industry insider.

Jeff Myers, president and CEO of the Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA), told us last week to expect something big, and big is what CMS provided for the most substantial change in Medicaid in over a decade.

The rule includes a medical loss ratio (MLR), something commercial health plans know all too well. Under the ACA, health insurers must spend at least 80% to 85% of premium dollars on medical care, or refund the difference to consumers. The new rule says that Medicaid plans will also have to meet the 85% MLR goal, but the penalty would be definitely delayed or even, possibly, discarded, depending on how states react.