PA Data Center Provides Census Bureau Updates and More

2023 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas.  Click here to view the bulletin.

The OMB Bulletin uses OMB’s 2020 Standards for Delineating Core Based Statistical Areas.  It is also the first delineation to use the 2020 Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and Census Population Estimates Program data.

2030 Census

Planning for the 2030 Census – the 25th in U.S. history – is underway. To develop the operational design, the U.S. Census Bureau will factor in past census experiences, your feedback, and new research. They will also consider evolving technologies and the changing world around us. The Census Bureau also released an updated timeline showing the lead-up to the 2030 Census. Click here to learn more.

New Report on Aging Veterans

A new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows U.S. veterans 65 years or older were less likely to be at risk of experiencing social isolation than other older adults. The report, Aging Veterans: America’s Veteran Population in Later Life, examines characteristics of the nation’s 8.1 million veterans ages 65 or older in 2021.

New Policy Brief Analyzes Medicare Advantage Participation Across Geographies

New from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis

Distributional Analysis of Variation in Medicare Advantage Participation Within and Between Metropolitan, Micropolitan, and Noncore Counties
Dan Shane, PhD; Ufuoma Ejughemre, MD, MSc; Fred Ullrich, BA; Keith Mueller, PhD

This policy brief uses county-level information from 2017-2022 on population and MA plans to analyze relative MA participation rates by geographic classification. We use Urban Influence Codes to split counties into metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore categories. Within each geographic classification, we order counties into quintiles by MA penetration rate (MA enrollees / Medicare-eligible enrollees) with the lowest 20% of county penetration rates comprising the first quintile. We find consistent growth in the median number of plans and median enrollment across all geographic classifications and all quintiles between 2017 and 2022, with slightly higher growth in micropolitan and noncore counties. We also find that growth rates were consistently higher in the lowest quintiles (lowest penetration rates) in each geographic classification. However, the absolute differences in median number of plans and median enrollment between these lowest-ranked counties and higher ranking counties in MA participation remained the same.

Key Findings

  • From 2017 through 2022, growth (measured as percent increase) in the number of MA plans and MA enrollment rates was higher in noncore and micropolitan counties than in metropolitan counties, but metropolitan enrollment rates remained higher than nonmetropolitan enrollment rates. The median number of MA plans in metropolitan counties is higher than that in micropolitan counties which is higher than the median number of plans in noncore counties.
  • Within each rural-urban classification, percent growth in MA penetration rates, plans, and enrollment has been highest in counties with the lowest participation rates in 2017.

Population size is closely tied to higher participation rates both within and across geographic classifications, with the important caveat that micropolitan and noncore counties with higher MA participation exceed rates that population only would suggest.

Click here to read the full report.

CMS Releases Inflation Reduction Act First Anniversary Fact Sheet

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an Inflation Reduction Act First Anniversary Fact Sheet. The fact sheet provides a summary of the milestones that CMS has met for implementing the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law on August 16, 2022.

The CMS Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary Fact Sheet is available here: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/anniversary-inflation-reduction-act-update-cms-implementation.

If you have any questions, please contact the CMS Office of Legislation.

Pennsylvania is Considers Letting Psychologists Prescribe Medicine for Patients

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a shortcut of sorts to expand healthcare access, letting psychologists, not just psychiatrists, prescribe medication. A handful of states and the federal government already do so, but critics worry about a lack of proper training and other innovations of the past that have not panned out. HB 1000 would allow psychologists to qualify for prescription authority by meeting educational and training requirements set by the state Board of Psychology, granting them similar privileges as primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants for psychotropic medications.

A Public Comment Period Has Been Requested on Proposed 2024 Insurance Rate Increases in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) announced a public comment period on health insurance marketplace rates for the 2024 enrollment period. While the average 2024 Rate Increase of 4.2% is tracking below the current medical information rate and represents a smaller increase according to PID, health insurance coverage affordability is a message health center enrollment assisters hear consistently. The same insurers from 2023 will remain in the market to provide coverage options: Capital Blue Cross, Cigna, Geisinger, Highmark, IBX, Oscar, Ambetter, and UPMC. Highmark plans to expand into Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. Geisinger plans to expand into Bedford County. Public comment on rate requests and filings will be accepted through Sept. 8, 2023, and can be emailed to ra-in-comment@pa.gov.

New Proposed Regulations are Set to Protect Consumers Against Short-Term Plans

Short-term health insurance plans don’t offer the same consumer protections guaranteed in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, such as a ban on excluding coverage of preexisting conditions. They also don’t typically come with the comprehensive benefits that ACA plans provide, like coverage for prescription drugs, mental health care, and maternity care. Recently, the Biden administration proposed new regulations to protect consumers from plans that may leave them without affordable access to needed care. On To the Point, experts from Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms discuss how states can build on these regulations. Among the steps, they outline: prohibiting short-term plans from selling policies during open-enrollment periods, banning plans from rescinding coverage, and requiring them to cover essential benefits. The authors also say aggressive plan marketing tactics that hinder consumers from making informed decisions may require policy action.

The New DEA Notice Says It’s Open to Relaxing Virtual Prescribing Rules

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said in a notice that was posted on August 4, that it is open to creating a special registration process that would allow providers to prescribe certain controlled substances for patients without requiring the patient to ever have an in-person medical evaluation. The agency will hold a listening session next month to allow the public to weigh in on the issue. Stakeholder groups and lawmakers have been pressing the DEA to change its policy, given the shortage of mental health providers and the increased need for access to prescribers through telehealth.

National Uninsured Rate Reached All-Time Low Before Unwinding

On August 3, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report showing that the national uninsured rate reached an all-time low of 7.7% in early 2023. Approximately 6.3 million people gained coverage since 2020. Nationally, uninsured rates among adults ages 18-64 declined from 14.5% in late 2020 to 11% in early 2023. The uninsured rate among children ages 0-17, which had increased during 2019 and 2020, fell from 6.4% in late 2020 to 4.2% in early 2023.