Chronic Disease and Co-Morbidity Among Dual Eligibles: Implications for Patterns of Medicaid and Medicare Service Use and Spending July 1, 2010 Report The health reform law contains provisions that aim to improve the delivery and coordination of services for persons enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare, known as the dual eligibles. This population includes individuals with some of the most severely disabling chronic conditions. While the higher costs associated with services to…
Explaining Health Reform: Questions About the Temporary High-Risk Pool July 1, 2010 Issue Brief The health reform law creates a temporary national high-risk pool to provide health coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions who have been uninsured for six months. It is a temporary measure designed to bridge the gap until the implementation of other coverage provisions in the law that will take…
Expanding Medicaid to Low-Income Childless Adults Under Health Reform: Key Lessons From State Experiences July 1, 2010 Issue Brief The health reform law will expand Medicaid to millions of low-income adults, including many childless adults who have historically been ineligible for the program, necessitating one of the largest enrollment efforts in the program’s history. This report, based on interviews with officials in seven states and the District of Columbia…
Liking the Pieces, Not the Package: Contradictions in Public Opinion During Health Reform June 30, 2010 Poll Finding Public opinion played a prominent role during the recent health care reform debate. In a published Health Affairs article, Kaiser researchers examine past and present polling and show that opinion tracked with historic patterns and was relatively stable, even if the contentious public debate suggested a volatile public mood in…
KFF June Tracking Poll Finds Health Care in the November 2010 Mix June 29, 2010 Perspective The start of summer finds Americans remain divided on the health reform law, but favorable views of the new law increased seven percentage points over the past month to 48 percent, compared to 41 percent who have “generally unfavorable” views and 10 percent who have yet to make up their…
Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus Program: Moving Forward on Health Reform Amid a Recession June 16, 2010 Fact Sheet This fact sheet provides a brief overview of Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus Program, a three-year-old initiative that merged the state’s three distinct Medicaid programs for children, parents and pregnant women into a single comprehensive health coverage program. It also expanded eligibility to provide near-universal coverage for children and greater coverage for…
Health Affairs Issue Focuses on Health Reform June 8, 2010 Perspective The June 2010 issue of the journal Health Affairs is dedicated to health reform, and “begins to tackle the hundreds of implementation issues inherent in health reform and offers prescriptions for averting trouble,” according to Editor-in-Chief Susan Dentzer. The issue features an article by Kaiser researchers examining past and present…
Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports: Key Changes in the Health Reform Law June 4, 2010 Issue Brief This issue brief examines new opportunities under the health reform law for states to balance their Medicaid long-term care delivery systems by expanding access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) programs. The brief outlines key provisions of the new law that expand HCBS benefit options, broaden financial and functional…
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — June 2010 June 2, 2010 Poll Finding The start of summer finds Americans remain divided on the health reform law, but favorable views of the new law increased seven percentage points over the past month to 48 percent, compared to 41 percent who have “generally unfavorable” views and 10 percent who have yet to make up their…
Survey of People Who Purchase Their Own Insurance June 1, 2010 Poll Finding While most people in the U.S. get health insurance through their employer, about 14 million people under age 65 have coverage through the non-group or individual market, which has faced scrutiny recently in news reports about some insurers’ steep rate increases and in the market reforms in the new health…