In 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to begin implementation of a plan to provide health care services to all uninsured residents. Healthy San Francisco is not health insurance, but rather it provides access to affordable basic and ongoing health care services for uninsured residents. The program provides medical homes to uninsured adults and focuses on prevention and the management of chronic conditions.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This document contains the full toplines from the February 2009 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The survey was conducted February 3 through February 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,204 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (903) and cell phone (301, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error is higher.

Toplines (.pdf)

This document contains the key findings from the February 2009 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The survey was conducted February 3 through February 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,204 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (903) and cell phone (301, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error is higher.

Key Findings (.pdf)

This document contains findings presented in charts from the February 2009 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The survey was conducted February 3 through February 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,204 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (903) and cell phone (301, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error is higher.

Chartpack (.pdf)

This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) illustrates the financial struggles of many families in the United States and shows the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household’s economic stability.

The report, , is based on interviews with 27 families from six cities across the U.S.. It finds pervasive uncertainty over job security and households teetering on the financial brink, stretching to pay for basics such as food and housing and ill-equipped to cope with unexpected costs for things such as a medical emergency or a necessary home repair.

Health care costs were of particular concern, with many families, including some with health insurance, forgoing doctor visits, skipping prescription medications and postponing needed care. Despite barely being able to meet the cost of basic needs, many families did not qualify for public programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Report (.pdf)

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. Some of the families profiled have health insurance, others do not.

Please note, the videos are no longer available.  If you have an urgent need for them, you may contact us (choose “problem with video” on the form) and we will try to locate them.  Include the URL for this page in your message to us.

For KFF reference:

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In the spring of 2008, 60-year-old Ron Gaston was a shipping and receiving clerk in Wichita, Kansas, who earned about $30,000 a year and received his health insurance through his employer. He and his ailing wife were barely making ends meet, in part, because of medical bills. After our interview, Gaston had surgery for what doctors feared was kidney cancer, but the tumor was benign. Still, he incurred $15,000 in medical bills and then in late 2008 he was laid off from a job he had most of his adult life.

View Interview

In the spring of 2008, 31-year-old Andrea deRoulet worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, and was raising three children on her own. Her children are covered by Medicaid but she has no health insurance coverage because her employer does not offer it and she cannot afford to buy private insurance.

View Interview

In the spring of 2008, 27-year-old Japera Smith-Stewart, married and a mother to three young children, worked as a temp in San Francisco. During her pregnancies, Smith was covered by Medicaid but when she got a job, she was shifted into the state’s Share of Cost program, which has high out-of-pocket expenses. Japera skipped taking her blood pressure medication to make her prescription last longer and she sometimes hesitated before taking her children in for their medical needs because of the cost. After our interview, Smith began working full-time for San Mateo County and has health insurance for the whole family.

View Interview

These issue briefs examine coverage of the nearly 9 million “dual eligibles,” the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.

The reports explore the national and state impacts of shifting the financing of selected services for dual eligibles from Medicaid to Medicare, and provide state-level Medicaid spending and enrollment data related to this population. The policy options studied could collectively provide tens of billions of dollars in annual fiscal relief to states.

Most dual eligibles have substantial health needs, including some who are in nursing homes. Although they comprise only 18 percent of people on Medicaid, dual eligibles account for nearly half of the program’s spending on medical services and more than a quarter of all Medicare expenditures.

Rethinking Medicaid’s Financing Role for Medicare EnrolleesDual Eligibles: Medicaid Enrollment and Spending for Medicare Beneficiaries

This issue brief examines coverage of the nearly 9 million “dual eligible” beneficiaries, the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. It explores the national and state impacts of shifting the financing of selected services for dual eligibles from Medicaid to Medicare, including having the federal government pick up the full cost of Medicare premiums, cost-sharing and gaps in Medicare-covered services and long-term care services for this population.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Missouri’s 2005 Medicaid Cuts: How Did They Affect Enrollees and Providers?

This study, prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, examines the result of sweeping cutbacks that Missouri instituted in its Medicaid program in 2005 in response to state budget shortfalls. Researchers at the Urban Institute found that the number of uninsured people in the state increased, hospitals faced greater demand for uncompensated care and community health centers confronted revenue shortfalls that forced staffing cuts and higher charges for patients.

The study was published in Health Affairs and can be viewed at the journal’s Web site.

Article

This policy brief reviews the literature and examines the impact of Medicaid and SCHIP on coverage, access to care and health for the nation’s low-income children.

Issue Brief (.pdf)