The Thinning Line Between Health Care & Social Services

There is a thinning of the previously absolute line between "health care" and "social services." We've written about that absolute line between the two before—Social Determinants Today, Social Determinants Tomorrow, Social Services Paid By Health Plans?, and Health Care Spending Vs. Social Service Spending. The rigid line never made sense from a practical perspective—but it does take policy a while to catch up with practice.

This shift started nine years ago with the advent of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Its elimination of preexisting condition clauses and annual/lifetime limits on benefits changed the . . .