This document presents key findings from the December 2007 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, which tracks changes in the saliency of health as a political and policy priority, what the public’s priorities are for a health reform plan, and whether any candidates are breaking through with the public with their health reform plans.

 Key Findings (.pdf)

This document contains the detailed toplines from the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – December 2007.

 Toplines (.pdf)

This fact sheet provides information on the new federal requirement that all U.S. citizens and nationals applying for or renewing their Medicaid coverage provide documentation of their citizenship status and examines the implications for Medicaid beneficiaries and the states.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

Previous versions

January 2007 (.pdf)

July 2006 (.pdf)

Embargoed for release until:December 13, 2007

For further information contact: Rob Graham, KFF, (650) 854-9400, rgraham@kff.orgKate Schoen, KFF, (650) 854-9400, kschoen@kff.orgRichard Auxier, Pew, (202) 419-4332, rauxier@pewresearch.org

In recent years, wealthy countries, multinational organizations, and philanthropies have increasingly mobilized to address global health issues such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. To help inform these efforts, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Global Attitudes Project today released findings from their new report from a 47 country survey that provides information about how people around the world perceive and prioritize health in their countries and gauge the efforts of donor nations.

The following are some of the key findings from the report – A Global Look at Public Perceptions of Health Problems, Priorities, and Donors: The Kaiser/Pew Global Health Survey:

Public Health Priorities in Low and Middle Income Countries. Preventing and treating HIV/AIDS is the top-rated health priority in the countries surveyed in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Fighting hunger and malnutrition is the top priority among countries surveyed in Latin America and the Middle East. And access to health care is seen as the top priority in Central/Eastern Europe.

Almost all low and middle income countries surveyed rate each health issue quite high. Majorities in 23 of 34 low and middle income countries say every one of the nine health issues asked about should be “one of the most important” for their government to address.

HIV/AIDS. Among “high prevalence countries” (defined here as those with an estimated HIV prevalence of 5% or more) and “next wave countries” (considered to be at earlier, but emerging, stages of their epidemics with large populations potentially at risk for HIV infection), large majorities say that HIV is a bigger problem now than it was five years ago, but there is also a strong sense of progress in terms of HIV prevention and treatment in most countries.

Foreign Aid Resonates with Recipients. Majorities in nearly every country surveyed say wealthier countries are not doing enough to help poorer nations with problems such as economic development, reducing poverty, and improving health. But among countries surveyed that were major recipients of development aid, people were much more likely to say that wealthy nations are “doing enough” to help poorer nations. Among the countries most likely to say wealthy nations are doing enough are Indonesia and sub-Saharan African nations, which have been the focus of Tsunami relief and efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, respectively. In addition, the survey shows substantial support among wealthier nations to do more to help poorer nations.

The report also includes the following previously released findings:

Top Issues Around the World. People in sub-Saharan Africa rank the spread of HIV and other infectious diseases as the top problem facing their country. Crime is the top issue among countries surveyed in Latin America and Asia. Political corruption leads in Central Europe, while terrorism is number one in the Middle East. Among countries in Western Europe, pollution ranks highest.

Progress Toward Affording Health Care and Food. With rising GDPs in low and middle income countries, many fewer people today compared with five years ago report going without food and health care because they couldn’t afford these basic necessities. In 23 of the 35 countries for which trends are available, significantly fewer people than in 2002 say they have been unable to afford health care for their families in the past year. In 20 of these countries, significantly fewer now say they were unable to afford food in the past year. Despite the progress, the gap between rich and poor nations with respect to reports of hunger and lack of health care remains enormous.

The report was discussed at an event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. as part of their Smart Power Speaker Series. The event – “How Do Citizens Around the World Regard Health and Donor Efforts to Strengthen Public Health” – included John J. Hamre, president and CEO, CSIS; Mollyann Brodie, vice president Public Opinion & Media Research, Kaiser Family Foundation; and Andrew Kohut, president, Pew Research Center. A webcast of the event will be available online.

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health care issues to policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

As policymakers focus on strategies to improve health insurance coverage, this brief highlights findings from the Kaiser Low-Income Coverage and Access Survey on the current role that insurance plays in facilitating access to care for low-income adults and in protecting against financial burdens. Findings demonstrate that health insurance is a critical lever to open the door to health care services for low-income adults. Uninsured low-income adults often experience health problems, but are more likely than those with insurance to forgo care or go into debt to pay for health care. The scope of coverage matters for insured low-income adults and some, particularly those with health problems, have difficulty shouldering out-of-pocket health care costs.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Uninsured Children in the South, December 2007

Commissioned by the Foundation, this report by the Southern Institute on Children and Families provides state-by-state estimates of uninsured children in the southern region of the country, which contains 17 states and the District of Columbia. The report contains fact sheets showing estimates of uninsured children for each of these states and shows that nearly half (46%) of the over nine million uninsured children in the United States resided in the southern region.

The percentage of uninsured children in the South is disproportionately high since only 38% of all children in the United States live in the 17 southern states and the District of Columbia.

Report (.pdf)

This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines the benefit design of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) in 2008, focusing on national plans. It shows that in 2008, as in previous years, only about 10 percent of national prescription drug plans offered the defined standard benefit. The spotlight also looks at cost sharing structures, the use of flat dollar copayments, the upward trend in cost sharing for non-preferred drugs, and recent changes in cost sharing levels between 2007 and 2008. The analysis finds that the flexibility of Part D plan benefit design allowed by the Medicare Modernization Act has generated substantial variation across plans and across years, with most plans undertaking modifications to design and cost sharing amounts.

This spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2008. The analysis was conducted jointly by Jack Hoadley of Georgetown University, Elizabeth Hargrave and Katie Merrell of NORC at the University of Chicago, and Juliette Cubanski and Tricia Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Data Spotlight (.pdf)

This report focuses on the recent experiences of a group of 35 Medicare beneficiaries in the early years of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, including a number who were enrolled in a Medicare Part D drug plan in 2007. It looks at their attitudes about the open enrollment season for 2008, and their interest related to switching to a new Part D plan for 2008.

It finds that most enrollees do not intend to reexamine their drug coverage options for the coming year or switch to a different Part D plan. Some enrollees are content with their experiences in their current plan, while others say they do not want to revisit the time-consuming process of comparing and choosing from among the many plans available.

is the fourth and final report that came out of a series of one-on-one structured interviews over two years with a diverse group of Medicare beneficiaries in four cities: Baltimore, Miami, Sacramento, and Lincoln, Nebraska. The Kaiser Family Foundation commissioned Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint to conduct these interviews.

The first report, “Profiles of Medicare Beneficiaries With Medicaid Drug Coverage Prior to the Medicare Drug Benefit,” profiled four people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid to provide greater insights into their circumstances as the new Medicare drug benefit went into effect. The second report, “Voices of Beneficiaries: Early Experiences with the Medicare Drug Benefit,” addressed the first months of Part D coverage in 2006. The third report, “Voices of Beneficiaries: Medicare Part D Insights and Observations One Year Later,” found that drug plan enrollees generally said they were satisfied with their drug coverage, but many of them didn’t fully understand how their plan worked.

Report (.pdf)

This Medicare Part D data spotlight focuses on the use of specialty tiers for high-cost and injectible drugs in Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2008. It finds that the number of plans with specialty tiers has nearly doubled since 2006. It also looks at the drugs assigned to specialty tiers, the beneficiary cost sharing structure, and policy implications such higher out-of-pocket expenses and selection issues among beneficiaries who evaluate plans based on cost sharing.

This spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2008. The analysis was conducted jointly by Jack Hoadley of Georgetown University, Elizabeth Hargrave and Katie Merrell of NORC at the University of Chicago, and Juliette Cubanski of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Data Spotlight (.pdf)

To better understand changes in the private plans providing drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries under the program’s Part D benefit, the Kaiser Family Foundation is issuing a series of data spotlights analyzing key elements of Medicare’s private drug plans. Each spotlight will focus on a key aspect of the drug plans that will be available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2008 and examine relevant trends since the Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006.

>>More Recent Medicare Part D Data Spotlights Now Available

These spotlights were prepared by a team of researchers at Georgetown University, NORC and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2008 And Key Changes Since 2006: Summary Of Findings

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Ten Most Common Brand-Name Drugs

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Low-Income Subsidy Plan Availability

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Utilization Management

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Formularies

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Specialty Tiers

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Benefit Design

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Premiums

Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap

Appendix with Methodology