On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom released his proposed California state budget for the 2025-26 term. Following last year’s $46 billion budget shortfall, the Governor’s new budget looked quite different this year. Specifically, the budget had no deficits, reporting a projected surplus of $363 million due to the state’s prediction that it will collect almost $17 billion more in revenue than was originally planned. In fact, this year is slated to go down as California’s second-larges...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Healthcare Pricing Can Public Option Plans Improve Affordability? Insights From Colorado (Health Affairs Forefront) Roslyn Murray, Christopher M. Whaley In the face of individuals and families unable to afford increasing insurance premiums due to lack of healthcare insurance competition, a variety of states are considering offering public option plans, commonly for ACA Exchange plans. These plans seek to provide coverage with low premiums by means of capped prices for those who do not meet Me...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Price Transparency Hospital Payment Caps Could Save State Employee Health Plans Millions While Keeping Hospital Operating Margins Healthy (Health Affairs) Roslyn C. Murray, Christopher M. Whaley, Erin C. Fuse Brown, Andrew M. Ryan As health insurance premiums continue to rise, state employee health plans are occupying an increasing portion of state budgets. State employers are often the largest purchaser or commercial health insurance in each state, given the volume of employees that they emp...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Healthcare Competition and Consolidation Chang(ing) Health Care: Bigger May Not Be Better, Just Necessary (Health Affairs Forefront) Atul Grover, Jonathan B. Jaffery As the health care market increasingly trends towards consolidation, many have been left wondering whether the trend towards amalgamated efficiency truly is better. The authors of a new Health Affairs article are arguing that the answer is no. Specifically, they state that the trend towards larger, more consolidated entities is r...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Healthcare Competition and Consolidation The Rise of Health Care Consolidation and What to Do About It (Health Affairs Forefront) Erin C. Fuse Brown, Yashawini Singh, Christopher M. Whaley, Jared Perkins As hospital consolidation continues to meteorically rise, an increasing number of government institutions including the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and Congress, have diverted move resources towards understanding and responding to the negative impacts of these trends....| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
New laws and rules requiring greater transparency into the behaviors and reimbursements of insurers have given employees and employers a clearer picture of where their healthcare dollars are going. For example, the “Transparency in Coverage” rule, implemented in October 2020, required health plans and insurers to post rates they negotiate with providers and develop price transparency tools related to cost-sharing. The “Consolidated Appropriations Act”, passed in 2021, requires Thi...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Assembly Bill 2200, better known as the Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, which seeks to establish a universal single-payer healthcare system called CalCare has once again failed. Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s newest attempt at a single-payer bill is the most current in a long line of attempts to secure universal healthcare for Californians. In 2022, we wrote about Assembly Bill 1400, a single-payer universal healthcare bill that would see coverage expand to every resident within the state o...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
Healthcare Competition and Consolidation Vertical Integration and Market Consolidation in Healthcare: Policy Drivers and Impact on Physicians and Patient Care (Seminars in Colon and Rectal Surgery) Rachel Ekaireb, Anna Yap, and Robert Kucejko Over the past several decades, the healthcare market has become increasingly consolidated. For instance, in the last twelve years alone, the percentage of physicians employed by hospitals or healthcare systems has more than doubled from 26% to 55%. While...| The Source on HealthCare Price and Competition
