This report analyzes Medicaid enrollment and spending trends for the years 2000-2004. Rising enrollment and health care inflation produced most of Medicaid’s spending increases during the period. Even with a stronger economy, however, Medicaid’s enrollment pressures remain due to demographic trends and continued declines in employer sponsored insurance.

Report (.pdf)

A new fact sheet and report analyze Medicaid spending and enrollment trends for 2000-2004. Medicaid trends are related to the state of the nation’s economy, and as the economy has strengthened, increases in enrollment and spending have slowed. Rising enrollment and health care inflation produced most of Medicaid’s spending increases. Even with a stronger economy, however, Medicaid’s enrollment pressures remain due to demographic trends and continued declines in employer-sponsored insurance.

Medicaid Enrollment and Spending Trends – Fact Sheet

Understanding the Recent Changes in Medicaid Spending and Enrollment Growth Between 2000-2004 – Report

This Kaiser survey report looks at how the bankruptcies of two steel companies, the LTV Corporation and Bethlehem Steel, affected health coverage for the companies’ retirees and dependents. The bankruptcies left about 200,000 retirees and spouses without retiree health coverage in 2002 and 2003. The report provides insight into the impact of a tax credit enacted by Congress in 2002 to provide temporary assistance to workers and retirees in “distressed” industries, including the steel industry.

The 2004 survey found that nearly three quarters of the retirees who responded had obtained replacement coverage or a supplement to their Medicare coverage, although many reported that the loss of benefits caused a significant disruption to their retirement.

This survey sample included 2,691 retirees or surviving spouses, including both early retirees ages 64 and younger in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Maryland and Medicare-age retirees 65 in the states of Indiana and Ohio. The United Steelworkers of America assisted in the survey by providing information needed to identify affected retirees and surviving spouses for participation in the survey.

Report (.pdf)

June 5, 2006, marks twenty-five years since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first warning about an emerging illness that soon became known as AIDS. In recognition of this day, the Kaiser Family Foundation is releasing several new and updated resources:

Evolution of an Epidemic: 25 Years of HIV/AIDS Media Campaigns in the U.S.

AIDS at 25: An Overview of Major Trends in the U.S. Epidemic

The Global HIV/AIDS Timeline is an interactive, up-to-date web-based timeline of key HIV-related events and noteworthy activities from 1981 through today.

Webcasts on AIDS at 25 from kaisernetwork.org.

The Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS released May 2006 finds that Americans increasingly believe the U.S. should be a global leader on HIV/AIDS, including spending more money to fight the epidemic abroad and at home.

Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS

Kaiser has multiple public education partnerships including KNOW HIV/AIDS with CBS Corporation and Viacom, think with MTV and Rap-It-Up with BET.

GlobalHealthReporting.org provides the most current news headlines and resources for journalists and others in global health and its facts-at-a-glance, overview of the HIV/AIDS global epidemic, and country profile pages have been updated to reflect the most current data from UNAIDS.

GlobalHealthFacts.org has been updated with new HIV/AIDS data by country. The site provides country comparisons and interactive maps and all data can be downloaded. GlobalHealthFacts also has the latest data on tuberculosis, malaria, avian flu and other health and demographic indicators.

Up-to-date, state-by-state data on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States is available on statehealthfacts.org.

Resources on HIV/AIDS on KaiserEDU.org include narrated slide tutorials on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, reference libraries with the latest research and policy analysis, an issue module for students interested in volunteering on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and a collection of course syllabi from classes on HIV policy.

This report focuses on how national media campaigns on HIV/AIDS have evolved over the last 25 years in the U.S., reflecting the changing nature of the disease as awareness and treatment have progressed. It also provides insight on the approaches, historical context and impact of leading national public education campaigns.

Report (.pdf)

This new chartpack provides an overview of major trends in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.

Chartpack (.pdf)

May 1-7, 2006, is Cover the Uninsured Week, organized by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and several partner organizations. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a wide range of resources on the topics of health coverage and the nation’s uninsured population to assist you in your work related to these issues.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launches the Week at a May 2 event in Washington, D.C.

Webcast

Fact Sheets & Primer

• The Uninsured and Their Access to Care
• Covering the Uninsured: Growing Need, Strained Resources
• Massachusetts’ New Law to Cover the Uninsured
• Women’s Health Insurance Coverage
• The Uninsured: A Primer

Reports & Chartbooks

• Health Coverage in America, 2004 Data Update
• Employer Health Benefits 2005 Annual Survey
• Sicker and Poorer: The Consequences of Being Uninsured
• The Cost of Care for the Uninsured: What Do We Spend, Who Pays, and What Would Full Coverage Add to Medical Spending?
• Threadbare: Holes in America’s Health Care Safety Net
• Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets: Implications for Health Coverage

Three Reports on Enrollment and Outreach for Public Health Coverage Programs

• In a Time of Growing Need: State Choices Influence Health Coverage Access for Children and Families
• Opening Doorways to Health Care for Children
• Outreach Strategies for Medicaid and SCHIP

Special Resources

• State Level Data on Health Coverage & the Uninsured
• Uninsured Tutorial, Module, and Reference Library

Electronic media is a central focus of many very young children’s lives, used by parents to help manage busy schedules, keep the peace, and facilitate family routines such as eating, relaxing, and falling asleep, according to a new national study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Many parents also express satisfaction with the educational benefits of TV and how it can teach positive behaviors.

The report, The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Their Parents, is based on a national survey of 1,051 parents with children age six months to six years old and a series of focus groups across the country.

Report (.pdf)

Appendices (.pdf)

In recent years, there have been significant changes to Medicaid that have the potential to reshape program coverage for the nearly 19 million women who rely on the program. This policy forum focused on recent federal and state policies, including the federal Deficit Reduction Act and state waiver programs, and their impact on low-income women, who make up approximately 70% of Medicaid’s adult beneficiaries.

Medicaid’s Role for Women

Materials From the May 11, 2006, Policy Forum:

Webcast

Salganicoff Presentation (.pdf)

Rudowitz Presentation (.pdf)

Agenda (.pdf)

Speaker Biographies (.pdf)

This snapshot summarizes the latest information and policy issues about the enrollment of dual eligibles into the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Issue Brief (.pdf)