🇺🇸 Axios Vitals: U.S. last place

Plus, Biden gets the ACA band back together again | Tuesday, April 05, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By PhRMA   Axios Vitals By Tina Reed ·Apr 05, 2022 Good morning, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 756 words or a 3-minute read. 🚨 Today is the day! Axios' inaugural What's Next Summit starts this morning. Register here to attend livestream sessions featuring José Andrés ... Laurene Powell Jobs ... D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ... the CEOs of GM, Slack, Accenture, TIAA and Northrop Grumman ... the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group ... and more.     1 big thing: U.S. women more likely to die from preventable causes Data: The Commonwealth Fund; Chart: Baidi Wang/Axios American women of reproductive age score worse on just about every major health metric compared to their peers in other wealthy countries. Why it matters: It's no secret that the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest among developed nations. But a new report from the Commonwealth Fund offers a higher resolution view of the role that cost plays as a barrier to care for women of reproductive age. "Maternal deaths and complications may be a bellwether for the U.S.'s wider failures with respect to women's health and health care," the authors wrote. By the numbers: The researchers looked at women ages 18–49 in 11 developed nations and found the U.S. had the highest maternal mortality rate by far at 23.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. When broken out by race, the rate was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 births for Black women, or about triple the 19.1 deaths per 100,000 for white women and 18.2 deaths per 100,000 for Hispanic women. Zoom out: American women also were among the most likely to have two or more chronic conditions, skip necessary care due to cost and have the worst rate of avoidable deaths.     2. Biden's Affordable Care Act lifeline Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   President Biden, joined by former President Obama, will today announce regulatory changes to Affordable Care Act rules that could make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes. Yes, but: The announcement comes amid significant doubt about whether Congress will be able to prevent millions of current ACA enrollees from seeing large premium hikes next year — or from losing their insurance altogether. Driving the news: The administration is closing what's known as the "family glitch," which stems from part of the health law that deals with eligibility for premium subsidies and ultimately prices some families out of health insurance. Under current regulations, people who are eligible for "affordable" employer health insurance aren't eligible for premium assistance on the ACA marketplaces. The Obama administration defined affordability as the premium for a single beneficiary — the employee — being below a certain percentage of family income. That doesn't take into account the higher cost of adding dependents to family coverage. The Biden administration is changing the definition and tying the eligibility threshold to the price of family coverage, which it says will lead to hundreds of thousands more Americans gaining coverage and more than a million spending less on premiums. Read the rest.     3. Medicare Advantage gets a pay bump Private insurers who administer Medicare Advantage plans can expect a 5% average increase in federal payments next year — half a percentage point above what the Biden administration proposed in February, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes. Why it matters: The pay bump in the controversial program marks a big win for insurers like UnitedHealth Group and Humana and doused speculation the administration would break with a trend of strong recent increases. The MA plans' total expected revenue, factoring other changes, would rise 8.5% in 2023, compared to a 7.6% increase in 2022, per the announcement. Zoom out: More than 28 million seniors and people with disabilities were enrolled in a private MA plan at the beginning of this year, an 8.8% increase from the same time in 2021. Critics worry that insurers and private investors are gaining a growing share of federal Medicare dollars and boosting profits, not patient care. Six health insurers control roughly three-quarters of the MA market, an Axios analysis of federal data found earlier this year. Insurers say Medicare Advantage delivers better services, better access to care and better value than traditional Medicare.     A message from PhRMA Out-of-pocket costs create significant barriers to care     New data show that 35% of insured Americans spent more on out-of-pocket costs than they could afford in the past month. The story: Many patients are experiencing an insurance system that isn't working for those who need care. Learn how insurance is leaving patients exposed to deepening inequities.     4. Pic du jour Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images   Demonstrators gathered in D.C. Monday to call on President Biden to wipe out all student debt, with a student loan payment pause put into place during the pandemic set to expire on May 1. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 73% of medical students graduate with debt and the median debt for those who borrow for medical school was $200,000 in 2019.     5. Catch up quick Senate negotiators in both parties on Monday announced a deal on a $10 billion COVID-19 preparedness funding package. (Axios) Doctors aren't removing infected heart implants, resulting in patient deaths, a study presented at the 2022 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions . (Modern Healthcare) Investors have been flocking to fertility startups in recent months as the pandemic has helped boost awareness of gender-based inequities. The latest case in point: a $25 million round for Future Family. (Axios Pro) National Cancer Institute director Ned Sharpless announced his plan to step down from the role later this month even as the president relaunches the Cancer Moonshot. (NIH)     A message from PhRMA Voters want Congress to address health insurance     According to a new poll, 71% of Americans would like to see Congress focus more on reducing the overall costs of health care coverage such as premiums, deductibles and copays. The reason: Many believe current health insurance coverage options are confusing and unaffordable.   Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: