UNH Healthcare Vitals Posts

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Health Insurance Premiums Are Skyrocketing for 2026 – Why?

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare insurance are going up, a lot! Most people and businesses purchasing healthcare insurance for 2026 will see a significant and alarming increase in the cost of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. Why? And what can we do about it in New Hampshire?

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Medical Debt and the Rise of Rx Drug Costs

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Rapidly rising prescription medication costs are a major reason families experience medical debt. Most Granite Staters worry about being able to afford their prescriptions, yet efforts at the state and federal levels to address the problem are stalling. Three in four adults say there is “not as much regulation as there should be” when it comes to limiting prescription drugs prices.

Measuring Total Healthcare Expenditures

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

In healthcare, as in most things, “you can’t improve what you don’t measure!” This year, for the first time New Hampshire will measure the state’s total healthcare expenditures to begin tracking our spending growth. This information will help guide interventions to improve the affordability and sustainability of healthcare in the Granite State.”

Primary Care August 2024

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Primary care is the one field of medicine that has been shown to improve overall health outcomes and decrease care disparities, yet primary care is in short supply and that’s not going to change unless we make significant, systemic changes.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Hospital mergers have changed the healthcare landscape

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Hospital mergers have changed the healthcare landscape in New Hampshire over the past 20 years and another major merger is pending review. There are important ways community members can provide input.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: 988 and the Future of Geolocation Services

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

As the FCC considers a move toward geolocation services for 988, NH must be prepared to support both the state’s crisis response system and individuals in crisis who may be wary of the change.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Healthcare Cost and Activity in New Hampshire

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The cost of healthcare services, including prescription drugs, tops the list of people’s financial worries according to a national February 2024 KFF Health Tracking Poll.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: New Hampshire Insurance Department’s Annual Hearing on Health Care Premiums and Claim Cost Drivers

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Late this fall, the New Hampshire Insurance Department (NHID) held its Annual Hearing on Health Care Premium and Claim Cost Drivers. It released its preliminary annual report on New Hampshire’s commercial health insurance market premiums and deductible trends and factors that have contributed to any changes over the years.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Maternal Mortality Rate is on the Rise

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The UNH Institute for Health Policy & Practice and UNH Franklin Pierce Health Law & Policy Program share this important public information bulletin about maternal mortality rates for Indigenous and Black people.

Lived Experience and Opioid Settlement Funds

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 12:00:00 +0000

New Hampshire is a party to a series of lawsuits against companies that have made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers, resolving allegations that the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to opioid overdose across the country were the direct results of the intensive marketing and lack of oversight regarding opioid prescriptions. Major pharmacy chains such as CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, and several pharmaceutical distributors were included in the lawsuits and settlements. The state also negotiated a separate settlement with Johnson & Johnson, another producer of opioid painkillers. According to New Hampshire's Department of Justice, the state ultimately is expected to receive $115 million dollars over 18 years from opioid settlement funds. Press reports indicate the amount could be as much as $300 million.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Hospital Transactions in New Hampshire

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The UNH Institute for Health Policy & Practice and UNH Franklin Pierce Health Law & Policy Program share this important information about hospital transactions in New Hampshire changing the face of community healthcare. The NH Attorney General has intervened to require protections for health and mental healthcare consumers in the most recent merger between Beth Israel Lahey Health (MA) and Exeter Health Resources (NH).

UNH Healthcare Vitals: End of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

Wed, 24 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The UNH Institute for Health Policy & Practice and UNH Franklin Pierce Health Law & Policy Program share this important analysis of the end of the federal public health emergency (PHE) related to COVID-19.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: COVID Pharmacy Claims Recovery Analysis

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The UNH Institute for Health Policy & Practice and UNH Franklin Pierce Health Law & Policy Program share this important analysis of COVID pharmacy claims recovery
in New Hampshire.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: COVID Recovery Claims

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The UNH Institute for Health Policy & Practice and UNH Franklin Pierce Health Law & Policy Program share this important public information bulletin about COVID claims recovery
in New Hampshire.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: New Hampshire Navigators

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Navigators are people who provide free health insurance coverage enrollment help and are available in New Hampshire to help people pick health plans that work for them.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: Sage Hospital Price Transparency Tool

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:00:00 +0000

The new Sage Hospital Price Transparency Tool Includes Hospital Payor Mix, Quality Scores, and Relative Prices for Hospitals in NH and the US.

UNH Healthcare Vitals: New Federal Law Extends Extra Financial Support for ACA Marketplace Health Insurance

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Did You Know? Healthcare provisions signed into federal law on August 16 will continue enhanced subsidies for people buying health insurance on the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace for three more years.