One of four working-age U.S. adults experienced a gap in health insurance coverage during 2011, often because they lost or changed jobs, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study released today.

About seven of 10 survey respondents who went through a period without health insurance lacked coverage for a year or longer. More than half were uninsured for two years or more, according to the 2011 Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults.

Major provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that will go into effect starting in 2014 are expected to help bridge coverage gaps and make insurance more affordable, according to the study’s authors. These include an expansion in eligibility for Medicaid, subsidies for purchasing private plans through new health insurance exchanges, and rules preventing insurers from denying coverage or charging more based on gender or a preexisting condition. 

reportingonhealth:

No concensus among Americans about their expected outcome of the Supreme Court’s discussion on healthcare reform.

(via Poll: 1 in 4 want Supreme Court to uphold health care law - Political Hotsheet - CBS News)

nationaljournal:

The Supreme Court’s decision on the health care case is more than just a simple yes or no. View this handy chart for possible SCOTUS decisions. 

The Health Care Case’s Legal Maze 

It’s a big week for health care, and it’s sure to be interesting. Supreme Court justices today began hearing arguments regarding the constitutionality of some provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the controversial federal health care reform law signed by President Barack Obama in March 2010. 

The above infographic shows the impact of market reforms without the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate provision, which requires individuals to purchase health insurance, if they are not already insured through their employer, or face a financial penalty.

Source: http://www.ahip.org/

Health insurer Blue Shield of California provides a breakdown for consumers of how each dollar they pay in health care premiums is being spent.

A provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (also known as the federal health care reform law) requires large employer health plans to spend at least 85 cents of every one of your premium dollars on direct medical costs. This ratio is called the “medical loss ratio,” or MLR for short. The new regulation took effect in 2011 as an effort to curb unnecessarily high profit margins and administrative costs, including executive salaries, overhead and marketing.

Read more about the medical loss ratio at healthcare.gov.