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Affordable Care Act sign-ups surge in Michigan, uninsured rate hovers just above 5%

Affordable Care Act

Samantha IovanMore Michiganders signed up for 2022 health insurance during the federal government’s recent open enrollment period for the Healthcare.gov marketplace than any year since 2017, and the estimated number of uninsured people in the state continues to hover just above 5%.

That was up nearly 14% from last year’s open enrollment numbers, which followed a shorter enrollment period that ended Dec. 15 in 2020, according to a federal report.

Policy experts attribute this surge to temporarily more generous premium and deductible subsidies that came with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan relief package that President Joe Biden signed last March. This subsidy expansion will expire at the end of the year. 

The Detroit Free Press reported on the change, and quoted Samantha Iovan, senior health policy project manager at CHRT.

“That was definitely the biggest change and why we saw such high enrollment this year,” said Iovan. “Previously, you consistently would see people who were getting plans that were 20% of their household income. So that was a big change that made more people eligible for subsidies.”

About 50% of people nationwide are eligible for the Silver Plan, which Iovan noted many people consider to be the best coverage for the most affordable cost.

 
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Freep reports Michigan did not undercount nursing home COVID-19 deaths, citing CHRT study

Senior in Nursing Home during Covid-19

On June 3, 2021, the Detroit Free Press cited the Center for Health and Research Transformation’s (CHRT) report on nursing home policies in Michigan during COVID-19 for an article about whether or not the state undercounted assisted living facility COVID-19 deaths.  Senior in Nursing Home during Covid-19

Written by Dave Boucher, the Freep article describes the claims that Michigan is undercounting pandemic-related assisted living facility deaths and that the policies of Gov. Grethen Whitmer contributed to those deaths. Boucher reports that Michigan did not undercount pandemic-related nursing home deaths, though deaths at smaller long-term care facilities may have been missed.

Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel said,

The number (of pandemic-related nursing home deaths) that is being reported is accurate because the number that we have reported on our website is the self-reported number from the nursing homes.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she would not investigate Gov. Whitmer or her administration on the subject of nursing home policies, and cited CHRT’s report which found no evidence that Gov. Whitmer’s nursing home policies contributed to COVID-19 transmission, and concluded that the decision “was executed in a crisis situation and was an appropriate response to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Michigan.”

CHRT’s study did, however, include a number of recommendations for the state to implement to improve wellness and safety for nursing home residents during the remainder of the pandemic. A number of these have already been implemented. 

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Detroit Free Press quotes Terrisca Des Jardins on the unintended consequences of hospital price transparency

Image of a man holding a hospital bill

Image of a man holding a hospital billIn a Detroit Free Press article, Trump rule forces Michigan hospitals to reveal secret prices, JC Reindl quotes Terrisca Des Jardins on the potential consequences of hospitals’ price transparency. 

New rules, which took effect Jan. 1, require hospitals to disclose the rates they have negotiated with insurers–information that was previously secret. Most hospitals in southeast Michigan have complied. The Free Press found significant differences in the price of procedures between hospitals and between insurers at the same hospital. 

Supporters of the hospital price transparency rule believe price transparency will lower healthcare costs. For instance, an insurance company may demand a reduction from a hospital if it discovers that it is paying more than a competitor.  Des Jardins, however, warns, “There is not yet enough evidence that shows that price transparency will indeed lower costs. Sometimes, these types of efforts have unintended consequences.”

The American Hospital Association opposed the disclosures, contending that hospitals are too overwhelmed currently with COVID-19 treatment and vaccine administration. They have asked President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to roll back the rules. The association’s CEO Richard Pollack highlighted that hospitals should focus their time and resources on delivering patient care and giving vaccines rather than being overburdened with additional requirements. 

 

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Detroit Free Press speaks with Udow-Phillips about COVID-19 response, other major health concerns

Image of two women wearing a mask

Image of two women wearing a mask

In the Detroit Free Press article, Retiring Michigan health care expert: We would not have predicted  COVID-19 response, reporter JC Reindl interviewed Marianne Udow-Phillips, CHRT’s founding executive director, about how health care has evolved through her career, to discuss various health care concerns, CHRT’s role in Michigan’s COVID-19 response, and CHRT’s role in Michigan’s decision to expand Medicaid through the Healthy Michigan Plan.

Marianne Udow-Phillips, who has been at CHRT since its founding in 2006 but will step down from the role at the end of the calendar year, “has influenced decision-makers across the state, including governors of both parties,” Reindl writes. 

In the Q&A, Udow-Phillips describes surveys CHRT conducted to analyze the capacity of Michigan’s health care providers to treat an influx of Medicaid patients should the state expand Medicaid. CHRT found that “81 percent said they would be willing to take Medicaid patients,” Udow-Phillips told Reindl. This finding was communicated to Michigan Governor Rick Synder and influenced the state’s decision to expand Medicaid, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Michigander’s receiving health care coverage. 

More recently, CHRT and Udow-Phillips provided an analysis of Michigan’s COVID-19 response. Specifically, CHRT studied Michigan’s policy of placing COVID-19 patients in nursing home hubs on release from hospital care. CHRT found that “Michigan overall had a lower percentage of deaths in nursing homes than the national average, and that the hub facilities, which the state set up, performed quite a bit better, in terms of death rate, than the non-hub nursing homes.”

Udow-Phillips also addressed CHRT’s analysis of single-payer health care, the Affordable Care Act, and her future plans as a University of Michigan lecturer and senior advisor to CHRT. 

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