Three reports and a video examine the range of health care needs and costs that people face today against the backdrop of the scope of health coverage that may be available to them under health reform.

This video, a companion to a report of the same title, profiles patients attending a dental fair in rural Virginia and highlights the impact of lack of coverage for oral health services on adults. Uninsured adults have vast oral care needs, and untreated dental problems can have serious health, employment and social consequences, highlighting the relationship between inadequate benefits and unmet health needs.

This video explores the financial and personal struggles of families who have suffered economic reversals and lost jobs and job-based health coverage.

These reports and a video shed light on the recession's rising toll on American families and the public programs that many depend on to fill the gap during times of crisis. They include a look at the lives of ordinary Americans who are struggling to cope with lost jobs and health coverage, and examinations of the strains on Medicaid and hospital emergency departments.

This video provides a snapshot of the Arlington (Va.) Free Clinic where, twice a month, medical personnel provide care and screenings exclusively to women. The video explores the hurdles that uninsured women face in accessing health care and the social issues, including work and family responsibilities, that create challenges for them. It is a companion to the report, "Putting Women's Health Care Disparities On The Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level."

This page features Alliance for Health Reform webcasts from 2009.

This live, interactive webcast in the Today's Topics In Health Disparities series examined how the recession is affecting communities of color in the areas of health care coverage, access to care and health outcomes, and housing and employment and whether the economic recovery legislation will help states respond to the rising demand for programs such as Medicaid. 

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, appeared as the first guest in a series of Health Care Reform newsmaker briefings sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Families USA and the National Federation of Independent Business.

A report and companion video on family budgets and health care examine the financial struggles of many families in the U.S. and show the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household's economic stability.

This Kaiser Family Foundation documentary, Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care, profiles several American families who are struggling to make ends meet. It depicts the narrow financial ledge on which millions of low- and middle- income working households stand even in normal economic times, and illustrates the central role that health care costs and coverage play in a household's economic stability.