A fact sheet on the demographics and health coverage of Mississippi’s population.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

A fact sheet on the demographics and health coverage of Alabama’s population.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

Key Facts – Louisiana and the U.S.

A fact sheet on the demographics and health coverage of Louisiana’s population

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This study examines the privately insured who have had problems paying medical bills and compares their access to care to those who have not had medical bill problems as well as those with no health coverage at all, using a national representative survey of adults. The study finds that care-seeking patterns among those with private coverage but having problems paying their medical bills resembled those of the uninsured.

Executive Summary (.pdf)

Report (.pdf)

More than 21,000 people with HIV/AIDS were estimated to be living in the disaster-affected counties of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. In addition to facing the multitude of health and other challenges confronting Hurricane survivors, people with HIV/AIDS may face additional hardships due to their HIV illness. This fact sheet provides the latest county data on the number of people with HIV/AIDS in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as information on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) for each state.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This report examines the impact of Massachusetts eliminating coverage of most dental services for adults in its Medicaid program, MassHealth. The report findings include:

• In FY2004, 100,000 fewer MassHealth adult enrollees received dental services reimbursed by MassHealth than in FY2001, the year prior to the reductions;
• The number of private dentists actively treating MassHealth patients declined after the reductions, and dental directors at community health centers (CHCs) indicated that they did not have the capacity to deal with large numbers of new patients;
• MassHealth enrollees and providers reported an increase in untreated dental problems and a reduction in corrective and restorative treatments for MassHealth enrollees;
• MassHealth enrollees described living with pain, diminished self-esteem, and negative effects on employment and their families’ finances due to dental problems; and
• The dental benefit reductions resulted in savings of less than one percent of the state’s share of total program spending, and it appears that some dental costs were shifted to other areas.

Report (.pdf)

On September 17, 2005 Kaiser hosted a symposium on “Key Policy Issues Affecting Frontline Providers” at the in Atlanta, Georgia (Sept. 15-18, 2005).

Presentation: What’s Coming Down the Pike? Preparing for Federal and State Policy Changes That Stand to Affect You and Your Patients (.pdf)

To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. The provides information on evacuees’ lives before the hurricane and inside Houston area shelters, as well as their plans for the future. The survey also includes a number of health-related questions, including information on health insurance status, chronic health conditions, prescription drugs, and injuries from the hurricane and resulting flood.

The is based on sample of 680 randomly selected adults ages 18 years and older, staying in the Houston Reliant Park Complex (which included the Reliant Astrodome and the Reliant Center), the George R. Brown Convention Center, and five smaller Red Cross shelters in the greater Houston area. Interviews were conducted face-to-face September 10-12, 2005. The survey was conducted and analyzed jointly by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Interviews were conducted by 28 professional, Houston-based interviewers under the supervision of staff from Kaiser and ICR/International Communications Research, and with input from The Post staff in Houston. The Red Cross gave The Post/Kaiser/Harvard interviewing team permission to interview at the various centers, but was not a co-sponsor of the survey and bears no responsibility for results presented here.

Toplines and Methodology (.pdf)

Washington Post Article

Free access to the American Journal of Public Health article on survey findings .

This update on Medicaid enrollment in 50 states demonstrates that in June 2004, a total of 41.3 million persons were enrolled in Medicaid, an increase of 1.6 million or 4.1 percent from June 2003. Medicaid enrollment nationally has increased at every six-month interval since December 1998.

Report (.pdf)

This issue paper is an effort to begin an assessment of health care needs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and to review some of the policy options available to the federal government to ensure access to health care for those affected by Katrina. The brief begins with a summary of the implications for the health of the population and its access to needed care. It then outlines the implications for affected states – those directly hit by Katrina as well as the states of refuge – and for health care coverage in those states. Finally the brief looks at two ways in which the federal government could respond.

Policy Brief (.pdf)