Advancing Health of Vulnerable and Publicly Insured Populations

Since the unprecedented jobs losses of March and April 2020, health care employment has been recovering faster than overall employment, regaining about two-thirds (68%) of the jobs lost, while the economy overall has regained a bit over half (56%) of jobs lost.

Last week health care workers and long-term care residents began receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. Within months, the vaccine will reach nearly every jurisdiction in the country. It’s a historic public health mobilization, but also a rare opportunity to strengthen our health infrastructure.

Early analysis of 2020 Bureau of Economic Analysis data suggests ways that next year’s report from the CMS actuaries will look different from this year’s – or any year’s before that – with hospital spending down while prices are up, home health care substituting for nursing home case, and some professional services in dire straits.