KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
This fact sheet provides an overview of provisions of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), which was signed into law in February 2009. The Act extends and expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (now referred to as CHIP, not SCHIP) that was enacted with bipartisan support a decade ago as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA).
This Kaiser Family Foundation documentary explores the financial consequences faced by three people, all privately insured, after being diagnosed with cancer. It was released in conjunction with a joint Kaiser/American Cancer Society report, “Spending To Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System.”
The Cost of Cancer: Tom Olszewski
Tom Olszewski, a retiree who lives in Texas, had prostate cancer but has been in remission for a decade. His medical history made it difficult to find health insurance and he is now in a high deductible plan with a health savings account. About 25% of Tom’s monthly budget is used for health care for himself and his wife.
The Cost of Cancer: Keith Blessington
Keith Blessington was a tax accountant who lived in New Hampshire and in the final years of his life battled stomach cancer. On July, 2, 2009 he died. Blessington was interviewed in 2008 about his illness and the financial burden created by it. At the time of the interview, Blessington was in a high-risk insurance pool which was the only coverage he could find after his COBRA expired. Keith’s illness had left him unable to work and deeply in debt due to medical bills and providing home health care for his ailing mother.
The Cost of Cancer: Jamie Drzewicki
Jamie Drzewicki, a nursing home activities director in Florida, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. She has maintained employer-based coverage since then but has still accumulated $75K in medical debt. Recently, the hospital where she has been treated retired about half that amount.
The first Kaiser Health Tracking Poll of 2009 finds the public is increasingly worried about the affordability and availability of care, with many postponing or skipping treatments due to cost in the past year and a notable minority forced into serious financial straits due to medical bills.
Slightly more than half (53%) of Americans say their household cut back on health care due to cost concerns in the past 12 months. The most common actions reported are relying on home remedies and over-the-counter drugs rather than visiting a doctor or skipping dental care.
In the face of the country’s current economic challenges the public’s support for health reform remains strong and their trust in President Obama to do the right thing in health care reform is high.
The February Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, the first in a series designed and analyzed by the Foundation’s public opinion survey research team, examines voters’ specific health care issue interests and experiences and perceptions about health care reform.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
