Dear John,

Join Health Affairs December 16 for a virtual event examining how efforts designed to increase access to and quality of care for underserved communities may align with efforts to address the rising cost of health care.

Numerous studies show that employer plans pay providers significantly more than Medicare.

Although, less is known about prices in nongroup plans sold both on and off the Affordable Care Act marketplaces where narrow networks and low-cost insurers are more prevalent.

In an ahead-of-print article published this week, Caroline Hanson and coauthors discover that providers paid substantially less by marketplace nongroup insurers as compared to employer small-group plans.

This will appear in the December 2024 issue. Order a copy or subscribe to the journal.

How Medicare Is Causing Patients To Overpay For Prescription Drugs

John C. Goodman and Lawrence J. Wedekind

Reconsidering The No Surprises Act Data: Implications For Policymakers

Richard E. Heller et al.

part of our Provider Prices In The Commercial Sector series

To Improve Quality And Outcomes, Incentivize Clinicians To Engage Patients

Lee Fleisher and Judith Hibbard

How Agencies Should Decide Which Costly Drugs To Target With Government March-In Rights

Jishian Ravinthiran et al.

Addressing The Maternal Mortality Crisis By Improving Interoperability

Rebekah Dailey

How State Health Insurance Assistance Programs Can Support Medicare Beneficiaries With Limited English Proficiency

Joshua Pearson and Rayna Stoycheva

Health Affairs Reads: Remembering David K. Jones's Scholarship Of Consequence

Sandro Galea

Global Budgeting In New York State: Lessons From Montefiore Health System

John Williford et al.

Washington Housing Conservancy Shapes Health via Housing Reform

Health Affairs’ Research and Justice For All podcast returns for its second season, focusing on drivers of health. 

Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH, pediatrician and public health advocate, interviews Kimberly Driggins from the Washington Housing Conservancy about the connections between housing security, economic mobility, and health outcomes.

Jared Walker on Eliminating Your Medical Debt

Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Jared Walker of Dollar For about his recent paper that explores the widely varying criteria amongst US nonprofit hospitals to determine who qualifies for free and discounted charity care.

Medicare Shared Savings Program Mints $2B Win for Value-Based Care w/ Frank McStay

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Frank McStay of Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy to discuss the results of a recent CMS report that explores the impacts of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in 2023 and beyond.

Uses of Health Care Price Transparency Data: Status, Innovations, Opportunities

Join Health Affairs December 4 for a virtual event on the current uses of hospital and insurer price transparency data and efforts to improve their usability and reliability.

Addressing Health Disparities Amid Growing Health Care Costs