Newswire Archives
The Trump Administration submitted to Congress its budget request for fiscal year 2019. Among other components, it proposes reductions of hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions to Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years.
The request can be obtained at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/budget-fy2019.pdf.
Nearly 11.8 million individuals selected a 2018 health plan during open enrollment, based on new data from the National Academy for State Health Policy that includes all U.S. states. Plan selections in the 17 state-based marketplaces, including those that use the federal HealthCare.gov platform, rose by 0.19%, while selections in the 34 states that use the federally-facilitated marketplace fell by 5.3%.
Data can be obtained at https://nashp.org/state-health-insurance-marketplace-enrollment-2017-and-2018/.
Approximately 3 million American adults lack access to both online and physical institutes of higher education. A report from the Urban Institute examines the intersection of physical education deserts with online education deserts, where access to broadband needed for online education is limited. Although online education is not a perfect substitute for learning in a physical classroom, increasing access to online coursework is a common response to the issue of education deserts.
The report can be obtained at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/96191/disconnected_from_higher_education_1.pdf
Sen. Lamar Alexander, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has circulated a White Paper on higher education accountability and is seeking comments by Thursday, February 15 at 5pm. The White Paper provides an overview of federal accountability requirements and considers a number of concepts or proposals for updating the measures.
The White Paper may be accessed here. Information on submitting comments may be accessed here. A statement issued by Ranking Member Patty Murray may be accessed here.
Workers rank health care as the most critical issue in the nation, according to new research from the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI). A survey finds that a majority of workers describe the health care system as poor or fair, although workers’ satisfaction in their own health plans remains high. Rising health care costs have implications for financial wellbeing among workers. Of the one-half of workers reporting cost increases, 26% state they have decreased their contributions to retirement plans and 43% have decreased their contributions to other savings.
The report can be obtained at https://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRINotes%20v39no13.pdf.
