UNH Today

The Institute for Health Policy and Practice is pleased to release additional installments of its “Informing the Conversation – Covering the Care” data and policy brief series. 

Health Insurance Coverage in New Hampshire | 2020 Update provides an overview of the health insurance landscape in New Hampshire, as well as updated policy explanations for shifts and changes in access. The brief highlights demographic details, including a break down of health insurance coverage types by age, county, and income. This year’s brief also includes a special focus on premiums and deductibles in the commercial health plan market in NH.

Read the brief

Key findings include:

• More than 3 out of 4 uninsured residents say they didn’t seek medical help when they needed it because of the cost.
• About 6 percent of residents were uninsured in 2019, compared to 11 percent in 2013. Nationally, the rate is 9 percent.
• The majority of residents ages 35 to 64 are covered through employers; only 7.4 percent have no insurance.
• Among 19- to 34-year-olds, 12 percent are uninsured, the largest uninsured group.
• Fewer than 4 percent of New Hampshire children are uninsured; one quarter are covered by Medicaid or CHIP.
• Premiums increased significantly for all commercial health plans between 2017 and 2019.
• Premiums, deductibles and co-pays are all up in the last two years. Insurance industry experts say this is because of uncertainty in the ACA program, eliminating the requirement that all adults must be insured, and other factors.
• Among New Hampshire residents covered under the ACA (Marketplace), more than one-third are ages 55 to 64.
• Enrollment in the Granite Advantage Program (Medicaid Expansion) is 30 percent higher today than in 2019.

Covering the Care – Legal Update/December 2020 summarizes key health care cases impacting New Hampshire including challenges to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid work and community engagement requirements, due process rights for people with acute mental illness, state authority to regulate pharmacy benefit managers and access to reproductive health.

• Is the Affordable Care Act Constitutional? Redux!- California v. Texas (SCOTUS)
• New Hampshire Medicaid’s Work and Community Engagement Requirements – The Story Continues!- Philbrick v. Azar (SCOTUS)
• Due Process for Patients in Acute Mental Health Emergencies - John Doe et al. v. Commissioner NH DHHS (USDC NH) and Jane Doe v. Commissioner (NH Supreme Court)
• State Regulation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers - Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management (SCOTUS)
• Access to Reproductive Health Care - June Medical Services LLC v. Russo and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas v. Kauffman

Read the brief