Addressing Disparities in Health and Health Care — Issues for Reform May 31, 2008 Event Marsha Lillie-Blanton, Dr.P.H., Kaiser senior advisor on race, ethnicity and health care, testified before the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee about the role of health insurance in reducing disparities in health care and in health status. The testimony is part of an ongoing health reform hearing series. Testimony (.pdf)…
Pulling It Together: Health IN the Economy April 29, 2008 Perspective I am writing this Pulling It Together column about this one chart and its potential interpretations and implications. Source: Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 — April 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2008. This chart from our most recent tracking poll shows the economy rising as a political issue…
Medicaid in a Declining Economy: Limited Approaches for States to Control Spending April 1, 2008 Issue Brief Medicaid in a Declining Economy: Limited Approaches for States to Control SpendingThis brief analyzes results from its annual 50-state budget surveys of Medicaid directors from 2003 to 2007. The historical results describe how states adopted a wide array of Medicaid cost containment strategies during the last economic downturn and were…
Health Coverage and Access to Care Among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders April 1, 2008 Fact Sheet A new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum examines the health coverage, access to health care, and health status of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ethnic groups in the United States, and finds that certain subgroups are doing much…
Medicaid, SCHIP and Economic Downturn: Policy Challenges and Policy Responses April 1, 2008 Report Medicaid, SCHIP and Economic Downturn: Policy Challenges and Policy ResponsesA new analysis conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured examines the implications of a downturn for health coverage and state programs and projects the impact of one percentage point rise in the national unemployment rate…
New Analysis Shows Effect of Rising Unemployment on Health Coverage, Medicaid and SCHIP Spending and Enrollment April 1, 2008 Event As the country faces another economic downturn, many states are scrambling to deal with the impact of poor economic conditions on programs, like Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), that are reliant on state funding. To be better able to cope, states are looking for fiscal relief…
Health Care Affordability and the Uninsured March 31, 2008 Event Diane Rowland testified at a hearing on the instability of health coverage before the Health Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. Her testimony discussed the growing share of Americans who are uninsured and without adequate health insurance coverage and highlighted the key characteristics and issues with…
Health Affairs Article: Comparing the Assets of Uninsured Households to Cost Sharing Under High Deductible Health Plans March 31, 2008 Issue Brief Health Affairs Article: Comparing the Assets of Uninsured Households to Cost Sharing Under High Deductible Health Plans Relatively few uninsured households have enough financial assets to cover the cost-sharing in consumer-driven health plans tied to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), according to this study by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers published as a Health…
Pulling It Together: Critical Path To Health Reform March 27, 2008 Perspective In this new section of our Web site, I pull together ideas and data from across the Foundation’s work to try to paint a bigger picture that hopefully helps to illuminate critical health policy issues. This is not a blog or a personal position statement. This second installment of the…
Pulling It Together: Critical Path To Health Reform: Stage One March 27, 2008 Perspective Will there be a big debate about health reform in the general election? If there is it will elevate the issue further, engage the public, and create momentum and a mandate for action by a new President and Congress. If, however, the debate about health is tepid or health is…