[Financial protection in health: updates for Mexico to 2014]. / Protección financiera en salud: actualizaciones para México a 2014.

UNLABELLED: Objetive: Document financial protection in health in Mexico up to 2014. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We up date the measures of impoverishing and catastrophic health expenditure to 2014, to analyse shifts since the implementation of the System for Social Protection in Health and the Seguro Popular using time series data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. RESULTS: Between 2004 and 2014 there has been a continued improvement in levels of financial protection. Excessive expenditure reached its lowest point: -2.0% in 2012 and 2.1% in 2014. Impoverishing expenditure dropped to 1.3% in 2004, compared to 0.5% in 2014, and catastrophic expenditures from 2.7% to 2.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The time series of data on financial protection show a clear pattern of improvement between 2000 and 2014 and level off and low levels in 2012 and 2014. Still, levels continue to be relatively high for households in the poorest quintile, in rural areas and with an elderly person.

Protección financiera en salud: actualizaciones para México a 2014 / Financial protection in health: updates for Mexico to 2014

Resumen: Objetivo: Documentar la protección financiera en salud en México hasta 2014. Material y métodos: Se actualiza la medición del gasto empobrecedor y catastrófico hasta 2014 para analizar los cambios desde la implementación del Sistema de Protección Social en Salud y el Seguro Popular, con base en la serie de Encuestas de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares. Resultados: En el periodo de 2004 a 2014, los indicadores de protección financiera han continuado su tendencia decreciente. El gasto excesivo llegó a sus niveles más bajos: 2.0% en 2012 y 2.1% en 2014. El gasto empobrecedor bajó de 1.3% en 2004 a 0.5% en 2014, mientras que el gasto catastrófico, de 2.7% a 2.1%. Conclusiones: Las tendencias en protección financiera son claramente de mejoría entre 2000 y 2014; para 2012 y 2014, demuestran niveles bajos en gasto catastrófico y empobrecedor, así como una estabilización. Sin embargo, siguen siendo relativamente altas entre hogares del quintil 1, rurales y con adultos mayores.

Abstract: Objetive: Document financial protection in health in Mexico up to 2014. Materials and methods: We up date the measures of impoverishing and catastrophic health expenditure to 2014, to analyse shifts since the implementation of the System for Social Protection in Health and the Seguro Popular using time series data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Results: Between 2004 and 2014 there has been a continued improvement in levels of financial protection. Excessive expenditure reached its lowest point: -2.0% in 2012 and 2.1% in 2014. Impoverishing expenditure dropped to 1.3% in 2004, compared to 0.5% in 2014, and catastrophic expenditures from 2.7% to 2.1%. Conclusions: The time series of data on financial protection show a clear pattern of improvement between 2000 and 2014 and level off and low levels in 2012 and 2014. Still, levels continue to be relatively high for households in the poorest quintile, in rural areas and with an elderly person.

Catastrophic Medical Claimants After ACA's Removal of Annual and Lifetime Limits.

Among the many provisions of the Affordable Care Act, one that initially received lesser attention or concern was the removal of annual or lifetime dollar maximums on group and individual health insurance. It was a rare occurrence for claimants to even approach the formerly lofty limit of perhaps $1 million or $2 million lifetime. However, their removal has aligned with a significant uptick in severely catastrophic claimants--particularly those in excess of $1 million or more. The drivers are several, and alert plan sponsors need to take proper actions to protect the financial viability of their self-funded medical plans.

United States-Mexico cross-border health insurance initiatives: Salud Migrante and Medicare in Mexico.

While U.S. health care reform will most likely reduce the overall number of uninsured Mexican-Americans, it does not address challenges related to health care coverage for undocumented Mexican immigrants, who will remain uninsured under the measures of the reform; documented low-income Mexican immigrants who have not met the five-year waiting period required for Medicaid benefits; or the growing number of retired U.S. citizens living in Mexico, who lack easy access to Medicare-supported services. This article reviews two promising binational initiatives that could help address these challenges-Salud Migrante and Medicare in Mexico; discusses their prospective applications within the context of U.S. health care reform; and identifies potential challenges to their implementation (legal, political, and regulatory), as well as the possible benefits, including coverage of uninsured Mexican immigrants, and their integration into the U.S. health care system (through Salud Migrante), and access to lower-cost Medicare-supported health care for U.S. retirees in Mexico (Medicare in Mexico).

United States-Mexico cross-border health insurance initiatives: Salud Migrante and Medicare in Mexico / Iniciativas transfronterizas de seguro de salud entre México y los Estados Unidos: Salud Migrante y Medicare en México

While U.S. health care reform will most likely reduce the overall number of uninsured Mexican-Americans, it does not address challenges related to health care coverage for undocumented Mexican immigrants, who will remain uninsured under the measures of the reform; documented low-income Mexican immigrants who have not met the five-year waiting period required for Medicaid benefits; or the growing number of retired U.S. citizens living in Mexico, who lack easy access to Medicare-supported services. This article reviews two promising binational initiatives that could help address these challenges-Salud Migrante and Medicare in Mexico; discusses their prospective applications within the context of U.S. health care reform; and identifies potential challenges to their implementation (legal, political, and regulatory), as well as the possible benefits, including coverage of uninsured Mexican immigrants, and their integration into the U.S. health care system (through Salud Migrante), and access to lower-cost Medicare-supported health care for U.S. retirees in Mexico (Medicare in Mexico).

Aunque la reforma del sector sanitario de los Estados Unidos muy probablemente reducirá el número global de ciudadanos estadounidenses de origen mexicano sin cobertura de atención de la salud, esta reforma no afronta los problemas relacionados con esta cobertura para los inmigrantes mexicanos indocumentados, quienes seguirán sin tener seguro aun tras la aplicación de las medidas de la reforma; para los inmigrantes mexicanos documentados de bajos ingresos que no han cumplido el período de espera de cinco años requerido para recibir las prestaciones de Medicaid; o para el número cada vez mayor de ciudadanos estadounidenses jubilados que viven en México y no pueden acceder con facilidad a los servicios de Medicare. En este artículo se analizan dos iniciativas binacionales prometedoras que podrían ayudar a afrontar estos retos: Salud Migrante y Medicare en México. Se tratan además sus futuras aplicaciones dentro del contexto de la reforma del sector sanitario de los Estados Unidos y se señalan los posibles retos para su ejecución (legales, políticos y reglamentarios), al igual que las posibles prestaciones, como la cobertura de los inmigrantes mexicanos no asegurados y su integración en el sistema de atención de la salud de los Estados Unidos (mediante Salud Migrante), y el acceso a atención de la salud de bajo costo, con el apoyo de Medicare, para los jubilados estadounidenses residentes en México (Medicare en México).

Health reform and its aftermath.

The Patient Protection and Affordability Act, H.R. 3509, that was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010 might just as easily have been subtitled the "Attorneys, Accountants, Lobbyists, and Public Relations Personnel Relief Act of 2010." As components of the law unfold over the next decade, thousands of pages of regulations must be written to explain how to implement the various provisions in the 906-page engrossed version of this legislation. Key segments of the health care industry in the form of practitioners, insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device companies, and academic institutions with programs in the health sciences will be affected in diverse ways. History being a reliable guide, it is safe to posit that these entities will respond in the usual manner by employing armies of lobbyists, public relations specialists, and attorneys to enhance the likelihood that the ensuing regulatory environment will not be too inimical to their respective interests.

Impeding Earl Warren: California's health insurance plan that wasn't and what might have been.

It is widely believed that the turning point for U.S. health insurance came in 1949 when Congress failed to adopt President Harry Truman's proposal for a national system. The possibility that a system of state-level health plans might have emerged before Truman's plan has received little attention. Yet several attempts to enact such a plan were made in California by Governor Earl Warren in the mid-1940s. Had Warren succeeded, the California example might have been emulated by other states and the United States might have evolved a system similar to Canada's provincial programs.

Copayments for inpatient hospital care and outpatient medical care. Interim and final rule.

This document amends VA's medical regulations to set forth a mechanism for determining copayments for inpatient hospital care and outpatient medical care. This is necessary to implement provisions of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act and to set forth exemptions from copayment requirements as mandated by statute.