Category: Issue Briefs

In order to reduce rising health care costs, many states are forging ahead with plans to move Medicaid enrollees into managed care plans. Pennsylvania has been more aggressive than most states, enrolling more than 80 percent of Medicaid participants in managed care.¹ Pennsylvania is also integrating Medicaid drug benefits with enrollees’ health plans rather than carving out drug benefits and administering them separately on a fee-for-service basis.

In the United States, eligibility for government social benefits is based mainly on an absolute measure of poverty – the federal poverty level – which is an income threshold that varies by family size. The level is supposed to be the minimum income required for a household to buy such things as food, clothing and shelter. In 2013, the poverty threshold varied from $11,490 for a one-person household to $23,550 for a family of four.¹

The post-September 11, 2001, GI Bill provides education benefits to veterans who serve at least 90 days on active duty. It covers up to 36 months of costs for even the most expensive public colleges in the country — such as the Universities of Pittsburgh, Vermont and New Hampshire — where tuition, books and living allowances average more than $17,500 a year. Eligible institutions include technical schools, traditional or community colleges, and flight schools.

In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional those provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) that deny federal matching funds for Medicaid to states that refuse to extend  eligibility to individuals and families with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). As a result, Ohio and other states now have the opportunity to compare the costs and benefits of expanding Medicaid eligibility.

In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional those provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) that deny federal matching funds for Medicaid to states that refuse to extend  eligibility to individuals and families with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). As a result, Virginia and other states now have the opportunity to compare the costs and benefits of expanding Medicaid eligibility.

Alabama is forging ahead with plans to move Medicaid enrollees into managed care plans. In doing so, the state should change its policies of administering pharmaceutical drug benefits separately from health benefits (called a “carve out”) and reimbursing pharmacies for each prescription filled (called “fee for service”).¹

Proponents of agricultural subsidies often justify them as necessary to compete in international agricultural markets and ensure a variety of plentiful, inexpensive food for domestic consumers. The federal government offers a wide range of aid to farmers, including: price supports and price floor programs; crop insurance — against both lost crops and lower than expected prices; government purchases of excess food stocks; and promotion of domestic crops through international trade agreements.

Recent college graduates have had a difficult time finding employment to match their skills. Indeed, unemployment is now higher among 18 to 24 year olds than any other age group. Despite the current labor market, a college degree can drastically change an individual’s earning power. But what impact does a college education have 40 years later during retirement?

Health policy economists are puzzled by a persistent slowdown in the growth of health care spending that seems to have started in mid-2005, and accelerated since then. As the Wall Street Journal noted, “The health [spending] growth rate has flattened out at about 3.9% over the last three years — a record low since the 1960s and down from the old normal of 6.2% to 9.7% in the 2000s.”¹

Under the guise of protecting the world’s forests from unsustainable logging practices, proponents of protectionist trade policies have successfully lobbied for so-called “green” measures. Environmental trade regulations ban the importation of natural resources from developing countries unless they meet standards imposed by developed countries.

Since the 1990s, veterans, policymakers and health care professionals have expressed concern over veterans’ untreated mental health challenges and high suicide rates. Many veterans experience varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and traumatic brain injury (TBI). These conditions produce patients who are inherently reluctant to seek treatment.

Reverse mortgages, formally known as home equity conversion mortgages (HECM), allow seniors to tap into their home equity and receive a lump sum or annuity payment during their retirement years. This money can help pay their living expenses as long as they live or, in the case of a couple, neither spouse in lives the house. While reverse mortgages have grown in popularity, so have problems and potential trouble in the reverse mortgage market.

Nearly one-fourth of the U.S. population is potentially eligible for veteran benefits and services, including former members of the armed services, spouses, children and survivors. The delivery of medical care is one of the most important obligations of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.¹ In 2012 VA hospitals treated more than 6.3 million unique patients.²

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, date back to the dawn of modern aviation at Kittyhawk. Modern drones have come about through a combination of technological advancements, including the refinement of propulsion methods, expansion of wireless capabilities, digitization of avionics, wide-band data transmission and the increased capabilities of satellite-based Global Positioning System navigation.