This chartbook provides fundamental facts about children’s health insurance coverage.

Chartbook (.pdf)

Previous Versions:

February 2007 (.pdf)

This past summer, the United States government’s global HIV/AIDS program was reauthorized and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data indicating that the epidemic at home was worse than previously thought. These events called significant attention to HIV/AIDS and together present the new Administration and Congress with an opportunity to address the epidemic at home and abroad.

Several short-term HIV-specific policy options have already been proposed for consideration, or are under consideration, by the new Administration and Congress. This brief provides an overview of some of these options, as put forward by non-governmental organizations and by President Obama. It is not, however, meant to be inclusive of all proposed options nor does it address any broader, non HIV-specific policy changes that are also underway – namely, national health care reform and foreign aid reform – although such efforts will undoubtedly have significant implications for the government’s response to HIV.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

This issue brief examines health insurance coverage for low-income citizen children whose parents are not citizens and some of the specific barriers to enrolling these children in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It is based on findings from the Kaiser Survey of Children’s Health Coverage, a telephone survey of parents conducted in 2007 to learn more about children’s access to coverage and care and the health care cost-related pressures facing their families.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Overall, more than one-third of the states (19 states) took steps last year to increase access to health coverage for low-income children, pregnant women and parents –- including 15 states that authorized or implemented coverage expansions. At the same time, 10 states enacted at least one measure to restrict access. The report also examines trends in parental coverage and state outreach efforts, including the use of technology to facilitate enrollment.

Full Report (.pdf)

Data Tables (.pdf)

Toplines — The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress

This document contains the detailed toplines from The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress poll. The poll involved a nationally representative random sample of 1,628 adults ages 18 and older who were interviewed by telephone between December 4 and 14, 2008. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on smaller subsets of respondents, the sampling error is somewhat higher.

Toplines (.pdf)

Chartpack — The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress

This chartpack provides the key findings from the survey of the public’s attitudes regarding the health care agenda for President Obama and the new Congress in 2009. It assesses the relative priority placed on health care by the American public as part of addressing the economic recession and as a large scale reform issue. The public’s priorities for health care reform and their views on a range of other health policy issues are presented.

Chartpack (.pdf)

As policymakers in the United States weigh options for reform to the nation’s health care system, the level of cost sharing that consumers face when they receive services covered by their health plans is a major consideration, especially for those with serious health conditions.

This background brief authored by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers examines how three European countries – France, Germany, and Switzerland – have dealt with cost sharing in their health systems. While cost sharing is required in each of these countries, each has a number of specific policies to limit the impact on people and families with significant health care needs and low incomes. The brief provides an overview of each country’s health care system, its cost-sharing policies, and the cost-sharing exemptions and limits that help protect people with low incomes, certain medical conditions or high medical costs, and other characteristics from burdensome, excessive costs.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Survey of Detroit Area Residents — Toplines

The Survey of Detroit Area Residents, the 18th in the Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University partnership series, was conducted by telephone from November 5 to 22, 2009 among 1,211 respondents age 18 and older living in the Detroit area (defined as Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties). Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish via landline telephone (N=784) and cell phone (N=427). Results are weighted to ensure the data are reflective of the demographics of the 3-county Detroit area. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Representatives of The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University worked together to develop the survey questionnaire and analyze the results. In advance of this project, the three partners conducted a series of interviews with Detroit-area leaders about current issues in Southeast Michigan and its future.

Toplines (.pdf)

This policy brief synthesizes the results of 29 studies in 23 states that examine the role Medicaid plays in state and local economies. These studies estimate the economic stimulus derived from Medicaid spending, and also analyze the adverse effects on the state economy from reducing Medicaid spending. This policy brief provides an overview of Medicaid financing, explains the methods used to assess economic impact and summarizes the main findings from the research.

Executive Summary (.pdf)

Policy Brief (.pdf)

Related documents:

A Historical Review of How States Have Responded to the Availability of Federal Funds for Health Coverage

Resources on Health Coverage in an Economic Downturn

Previous versions:

April 2004 (.pdf)

This report relays the perspective of leading state Medicaid directors to describe the fiscal strain on Medicaid and other safety-net programs as enrollment swells and state tax revenues shrink, raising the prospect of program cutbacks. It draws on focused interviews with leading Medicaid directors in November 2008. It augments the most recent Medicaid budget survey report that was based on a survey and interviews with all state Medicaid directors in July and August 2008, at the beginning of state fiscal year 2009.

Report (.pdf)