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Kaiser Family Foundation Receives Grant from The Scan Foundation for Kaiser Health News to Provide Coverage of Health Issues Facing Nation’s Senior Population
The Kaiser Family Foundation received a three-year grant from The SCAN Foundation that will allow the forthcoming Kaiser Health News to provide in-depth coverage of health care issues affecting the nation's age 65 and older population, including longer-form articles, interviews, webcasts and other web-based materials. Topics covered will include long-term care, Medicare and other health coverage for seniors, affordability, and delivery of care for seniors. The news release is available online.
Snapshot Finds Key Differences In Health Coverage Between Small and Large Firms
A key element of the debate over health reform involves whether employers should be required to offer insurance to their employees or contribute some amount to help people obtain coverage outside the workplace. Indeed, President-elect Obama’s health care proposal contains such a provision. A new analysis in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Snapshots: Health Care Costs series shows that although employer-provided health insurance is the primary source of coverage in the United States, covering almost 160 million people, firms with fewer than 200 employees are less likely to offer health insurance to workers than are larger firms (62 percent versus 99 percent). Even when small firm workers can get coverage, they often face higher deductibles, bear a greater share of premium costs for family coverage and pay more of their medical expenses out-of-pocket than their counterparts at large firms. Understanding these differences is important to any health reform effort that seeks to build on the system of employer-provided coverage. The analysis is available online.
New Analysis Examines the Fraying Link Between Work and Health Insurance
A new analysis by the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU), finds that employer-sponsored coverage began declining after 2000 due to an economic downturn that saw rising unemployment, declining family incomes and more workers moving into temporary and part-time work and other work arrangements where health benefits were not provided. The decline was due both to falloffs in the share of employees with access to employer insurance and decreasing take-up rates among workers. The uninsured rate for employees increased, and it also went up for low-income children with access to employer-coverage. In the absence of other affordable health coverage options, these trends can be expected to result in further growth in uninsured employees. The new analysis is available online.
E-Health: New Report Examines How States Use Technology to Help Children in Medicaid, SCHIP
A new report from the Foundation’s KCMU and The Children’s Partnership highlights states' innovative use of health information technology in their Medicaid and SCHIP programs to improve their ability to reach and enroll eligible children, improve the quality of care for children, increase communications with families, and continue to modernize their programs. Although many of these efforts are still in their early stages, findings to date indicate improvements in access to care, care coordination, case management, and administrative efficiency. The report also finds that states are pursuing ways to overcome financing and other challenges to getting new health information technology efforts off the ground, but federal leadership and funding is key for continuing to support and advance state Medicaid and SCHIP health information technology efforts. The report is available online.
Vermont Long-Term Care Waiver
A new policy brief by the KCMU analyzes the experience of Vermont’s Choices for Care experiment in delivering long-term services. Created through a five-year Medicaid waiver in 2005, the experiment was designed to increase access to home and community-based services while reducing the use of institutional services and controlling overall costs. The analysis found that Vermont was able to expand access to community-based services and extend some services to a “moderate need” group for the first time. But while the state has seen a shift of people and money toward community settings, it also has experienced the return of waiting lists for some populations. Because of circumstances unique to Vermont, it is unclear how appropriate this waiver approach would be for other states. The policy brief is available online.
Webcast of Kaiser/CSIS Forum Examining Humanatarian Impact of Zimbabwe Crisis
A webcast is now available of Thursday's forum on the humanitarian impact of the prolonged political stalemate in Zimbabwe, including its impact on the nation’s strained health-care system; and the implications for the U.S. and other major international donor nations. Co-hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he forum featured keynote remarks by Hopewell Rugoho Chin'ono , a Zimbabwean television journalist who this summer received the overall 2008 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Award as well as the Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer . The forum also included a discussion moderated by Leonard Doyle , former foreign editor and current U.S. Editor, The Independent of London ; with an expert panel including Jennifer G. Cooke , Co-Director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Shannon Hader, Director, District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Administration, formerly Senior Scientific Advisor to PEPFAR and Director of CDC-Zimbabwe; Robert I. Rotberg , Director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; Michael Sinclair , Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Vice President and Director of the Program for Health and Development in South Africa, provided introductory remarks; and Stephen Morrison, Executive Director of HIV/AIDS Task Force/Global Health Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies, provided closing remarks. The webcast is available online.
Kaiser Updates Basic Fact Sheets On Medicaid, Medicare Programs
The Kaiser Family Foundation has updated two fact sheets providing key information about the Medicaid and Medicare programs, including who is eligible for each program, how they are financed and administered, and which benefits are covered. The Medicaid Program At-a-Glance fact sheet is available online and the Medicare At-a-Glance fact sheet is available online.
“Ask the Experts” Live Webcast on The Role of States in a National Health Reform Effort
On Thursday, December 4 at 1:30 p.m. ET, join kaisernetwork.org's Ask the Experts for a live webcast discussing the role of states in a national health reform effort. As a new presidential administration and Congress prepare for a potential debate about the future of the nation's health care system, an expert panel will address such questions as: Should reform proceed state-by-state or nationally? What types of approaches could be tested at the state level to inform the national debate? What degree of flexibility should states have in structuring reform and specifying the scope of coverage and subsidies? How much financial and operational responsibility should rest with state governments? Larry Levitt, Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and kaisernetwork.org editor-in-chief will moderate a discussion with: Henry Aaron, senior fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Stuart Butler, vice president, Domestic and Economic Policy Studies, Heritage Foundation; Judy Feder, professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute; and Alan Weil, executive director and president, National Academy for State Health Policy. Send questions for the panelists before or during the show to ask@kaisernetwork.org.
In addition to Kaiser Family Foundation events listed above, a number of external organizations conduct activities at the Foundation's Barbara Jordan Conference Center in Washington, D.C. Events listed take place in the Foundation's Barbara Jordan Conference Center at 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, D.C., unless otherwise noted. On Wednesday, November 19, The Society for Health Policy Young Professionals will have a meeting on “Health Reform: Perspectives from the Left and Right”.
Zimbabwe : Time to Hope?
Kaiser Family Foundation and Center for Strategic and International Studies
 A podcast is also available
Lessons on Coverage from Abroad: How Do the Dutch, German and Swiss Health Care Systems Do It?
Alliance for Health Reform and Commonwealth Fund
A podcast is also available
Perspectives on Health Reform from the Left and Right
Society of Health Policy Young Professionals
Health Policy and Women’s Health: Current Status and Future Priorities
George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services
Reflections on the 2008 Elections: What Do the Results Mean for Health and Health Care? Grantmakers In Health
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no Weekly Update next week
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