Men lost insurance during the Great Recession, even when they held onto a job, say researchers in a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Should the 2010 Affordable Care Act survive legal challenges, the law's expanded insurance subsidies could weaken the link between the economy and coverage, the researchers say. Nonetheless, the health reform law may also pose new questions for lawmakers should downturns increase spending for insurance subsidies.
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So what would happen to hospital revenue and operating margins, say, if Medicare revenue fell by 1%? What about 3% or 5%? Ratings agency Fitch considered the question and then compared the results against operating margins after Congress last took dramatic action to curb Medicare spending.
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Health system finance chiefs may shudder to recall how quickly cash evaporated from balance sheets as the recession and credit crisis propelled a market dive. In early March 2009, the Dow Jones industrial average reached its lowest point in a dozen years when it closed at 6,547.
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Today, I bring a dispatch from the world of economic theory on how to influence doctors. Hire them, hospitals.
Economics professors James Rebitzer and Mark Votruba, in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (subscription required), reach this conclusion after listing formidable obstacles to coordinated care, among them the growth of independent medical specialists with the expertise and financial incentives to tailor treatment patterns to their advantage.
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Months of negotiations ended on Monday with a signed agreement for Highmark, an insurer, to acquire West Penn Allegheny Health System, a health system with dismal finances.
The deal, announced in June, has been of intense local interest, and the unusual nature of the transaction (insurer buys hospitals) has attracted national attention.
Highmark said it would invest up to $475 million in West Penn Allegheny and medical education. That included $50 million Highmark poured into the health system in late June, which largely offset the health system's $51.7 million operating loss for the fiscal year that ended that month.
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