54 News Items Found
August 10, 2022
Will New Spending Bill Reduce Texas Health Care Costs?
While health care costs will drop under the new spending bill, "we don’t know by how much" and who will see the savings, Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics, said. "It depends on which drugs are included" in price negotiations.
July 12, 2022
Most Medical Debt to be Removed from Credit Reports
Major credit bureaus are changing how they report unpaid medical bills — "great news for consumers," said health economist Vivian Ho."This was debt that was dragging a lot of people down."
Read more at Marketplace. April 15, 2022
A Solution to the Home Health Worker Shortage?
Care worker co-ops could improve access to health care in low-income communities shut out by larger, higher priced, home health care services, said health policy fellow Vivian Ho. "The fewer services controlled by large, integrated networks, the better. That leads to job growth and closer contact [from workers who have] an understanding of the community they’re serving."
Read more at the Houston Chronicle. January 17, 2022
The Cost of Rejecting Medicaid Expansion?
Texas left $100 billion on the table by failing to expand Medicaid, gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke has said. Health policy fellow Vivian Ho believes it could be more, citing the multiplier effect. "Federal dollars the state would not receive otherwise ... boost the economy in general," she said.
Read more at the Austin American-Statesman. September 6, 2021
Have Houston's COVID Hospitalizations pPateaued?
With current increased vaccination rates, health economics fellow Vivian Ho thought it was possible COVID-19 hospitalizations would begin to stabilize in the region — but Hurricane Ida and students heading back to school may have disrupted that trend.
Read more at the Houston Chronicle.