News
Resources
Blog
Sites
Karyn Schwartz Karyn Schwartz is a deputy vice president in the policy and research department at PhRMA, where she has responsibilities for policies related to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and the 340B program. Prior to joining PhRMA, she worked at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Kaiser Family Foundation. When not immersed in arcane policy details, Karyn enjoys going for early morning runs and exploring Washington, D.C. with her twin boys.
Recent Posts
340B Spotlight: New report raises questions about eligibility metric for 340B hospitals
By Karyn Schwartz | August 11, 2016
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how hospitals qualify for certain uncompensated care payments raises questions about how a similar eligibility metric is used to...
Read More
Higher deductibles and more dissatisfaction with health plans according to new poll
By Karyn Schwartz | May 20, 2016
The share of consumers in a high deductible plan increased from 36 percent to 49 percent among those who purchase their own insurance, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll released today....
Read More
New non-discrimination rule neglects to define discriminatory benefits
By Karyn Schwartz | May 19, 2016
In a final rule released late last week, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights declined to provide details on health insurance benefit designs it considers to be...
Read More
New Avalere study: Health plan formularies continue to suggest bias against individuals with certain health conditions
By Karyn Schwartz | April 19, 2016
Despite warnings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that requiring high cost sharing for all or most medications to treat a condition may be discriminatory, new data from Avalere...
Read More
New Study: Patient cost sharing rising as plans push more costs to patients through deductibles, coinsurance
By Karyn Schwartz | April 13, 2016
New data show changes in how insurers structure health insurance benefits have made out-of-pocket costs harder for patients to budget for or predict. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released this...
Read More
New research: Insurance plan structure can have discriminatory effect
By Karyn Schwartz | March 31, 2016
New research from the Harvard University Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) is another piece of evidence showing how health insurance plan design may be trying to discourage...
Read More
When coverage does not equal access to care
By Karyn Schwartz | February 19, 2016
Building on recent stories about the challenges even those with insurance are facing, new data show some consumers have no choice but to pay up to thousands of dollars out of pocket before their...
Read More
340B Spotlight: Hospitals report declines in uncompensated care even as more are qualifying for the 340B drug discount program
By Karyn Schwartz | February 3, 2016
We previously noted that it is counterintuitive that more hospitals would become eligible for the 340B discount program as the share of uninsured patients these hospitals serve declines due to the...
Read More
340B Spotlight: New study raises questions about whether non-profit hospitals are meeting charity care requirements in Affordable Care Act
By Karyn Schwartz | November 19, 2015
New data published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that many non-profit hospitals are not meeting charity care requirements in the Affordable Care Act. These requirements were intended...
Read More
Despite rhetoric, new data shows medicines are not primary driver of premium increases
By Karyn Schwartz | November 17, 2015
Despite claims from insurers about the impact of medicine costs on premium increases, their own data indicates otherwise. In fact, just $3.29 of the average $25.26 increase in monthly premiums in...
Read More
Medicare Monday (100)
340B Spotlight (46)
Cost & Consequence (0)
