Healthcare
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The Rise in Health Insurance Prices: How Policy Can Change American Healthcare
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Experts have been warning the public about the impending increase in health insurance prices in 2025, with even sharper increases expected this year in 2026. This anticipated increase comes with a shrinkage in coverage and a strain on low-income Americans who will not be able to afford these hiking premiums.…
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The Hidden Cost of Teletherapy
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Teletherapy became increasingly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, an estimated 21% of U.S. adults used a teletherapy service, while mental health startups collectively raised $5.5 billion in funding. Websites such as BetterHelp, Cerebral, Ginger, ReGain, and TalkSpace, among others, connect users with therapists for virtual counseling sessions. Although…
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Asynchronous Telepsychiatry: An Unused Solution to the Psychiatrist Shortage
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The United States is facing a severe shortage of psychiatrists. In 2018, 77% of counties in the United States reported a severe deficit of psychiatrists, while an estimated 60% of adults with mental illness were not able to receive treatment. This lack of services is even more glaring in rural…
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Abortion Rights Are On the Supreme Court Docket
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During his campaign for President, Donald Trump famously vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, at the end of his term, it remained the law of the land. This could soon change. While the Supreme Court upheld abortion rights in a 5-4 decision in Louisiana’s…
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GDP has Immense Consequences for Health Equity: Why Doctors Should Care
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Natalia Khosla ‘22 is a MS 4 at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]. During one of my medical rotations, my team and I were taking care of a patient stuck in a vicious cycle: a 68-year-old with heart failure,…
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Narrow Networks For Mental Health Providers: Trading Cost For Access
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In 2016, 45 percent of health insurance plans purchased on Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces were considered narrow network plans. Narrow network plans are defined as those that cover less than 25 percent of physicians in a specific geographic area. Amid rising health care costs, this is one of several…
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Why Don’t People Search for the Cheapest Health Care?
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According to a poll conducted by Monmouth University earlier this year, the cost of healthcare is the top concern for American families. This makes sense in the context of a health system in which the proliferation of high deductible health plans—where patients pay greater amounts before their insurers start contributing—have…
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Digital Health: The Next Frontier in Mental Health Care
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Uber, Airbnb, Seamless, Waze—Twenty years ago these concepts were a distant impossibility. Smart phone technology has given programmers, computer scientists and entrepreneurs tools to revolutionize traditional industries like hospitality, transportation and supermarkets. However, the emergence of new technology need not be limited to satisfying basic consumer needs. The ubiquity of…
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Reducing Racial Disparities in the US by Increasing Contraception Coverage
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On October 6, the Trump Administration rolled back the federal requirement that all employers must include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. As a result, some employees will be asked to pay for contraceptives on their own. By making contraceptives less affordable and accessible, this policy decision may…
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Is Training Informal Healthcare Providers The Solution to India’s Doctor Shortage?
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India, like other developing countries, is struggling with a scarcity of formally trained medical professionals, especially in rural and isolated areas. This gap has fueled the proliferation of informal healthcare providers, known pejoratively as “medical quacks.” These untrained providers provide more than 70 percent of primary care in rural India.…
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Is Patient Activation the Answer? Engaged Patients Could Yield Lower Costs for Hospitals
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This piece, first published on June 22, 2016, is being republished as part of the Chicago Policy Review‘s 20th Anniversary Series. Please visit us here to learn more about the series from our Executive Editors. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are growing rapidly in the United States because of new pay-for-performance incentives under the Affordable Care Act.…