Striving to Make Ends Meet: Low-Income Families’ Finances and Health Coverage

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured released new reports and held a policy briefing on the challenges and tradeoffs low-income families face when dealing with their budgets and the implications for health coverage.

Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets: Implications for Health CoverageFaces of Medicaid

Webcast of April 20, 2004 Policy Briefing

Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets: Implications for Health Coverage – Report

This report explores the experiences of families trying to make ends meet on limited budgets. By discussing these families’ work, spending patterns, financial challenges, priorities and tradeoffs and health care and coverage, this report intends to provide a deeper understanding of families’ financial pressures and choices and information to assess the impact of current and proposed policies.

Report (.pdf)

This article, published online by Health Affairs on April 14, 2004, estimates the extent to which prescription drug discount cards could affect out-of-pocket spending by Medicare beneficiaries who lack drug coverage, based on an analysis of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. The Medicare discount card program is scheduled to go into effect in June of 2004.

Health Affairs Article

– Issue Brief

The report discusses the history of “entertainment education” – the use of entertainment media as a means of educating viewers about important health and social issues – and provides the leading examples of entertainment education from American television. The report also summarizes the results of research evaluating the effectiveness of this strategy for reaching the public with information about health issues (April 2004).

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Medicaid is financed jointly by the federal government and states. This shared financing has produced tension at times over the appropriate share of the cost of the program. This report explains briefly the mechanisms used by states in recent years to finance their share of Medicaid expenditures.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Toplines of selected findings of the March/April 2004 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Poll Report survey that underscores the need to educate seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug program.

Survey Toplines (.pdf)

A chartpack of selected findings of the March/April 2004 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Poll Report survey that underscores the need to educate seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug program.

Survey Chartpack (.pdf)

Financing the Medicaid Program: The Impact of Federal Fiscal Relief, April 2004

This fact sheet summarizes why federal fiscal relief to states was granted in 2003, including additional money for Medicaid; the impact of the relief in easing state budgetary pressure; and what may occur in the states after the fiscal relief expires in June 2004.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

Selected findings from the March/April 2004 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Poll Report survey underscores the need to educate seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug program – both the transitional discount card program that will be go into effect on June 1, 2004 and the full Medicare benefit that begins in January 2006. The survey, which is conducted every two months, is designed and analyzed by staff at the Foundation and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Below are a chartpack and toplines of the full results of the survey, including questions about drug reimportation and other policy issues.

Chartpack

Survey Toplines

On April 19, 2004 the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured held a Washington policy briefing on the basics of Medicaid financing. A webcast and transcript of the briefing are available.

Presentation Slides (.pdf)

The publications below provide background information on Medicaid financing and the latest on Medicaid waiver activity.

Reports related to Medicaid Financing and State Budgets

Financing the Medicaid Program: The Many Roles of State and Federal Matching Funds

Current Issues in Medicaid Financing — An Overview of IGTs, UPLs, and DSH

State Fiscal Conditions and Medicaid

Financing the Medicaid Program: The Impact of Federal Fiscal Relief

The Role of Medicaid in State Economies: A Look at the Research

Medicaid Spending: What Factors Contributed to the Growth Between 2000 and 2002?

States Respond to Fiscal Pressure: A 50-State Update of State Medicaid Spending Growth and Cost Containment ActionsState Responses to Budget Crisis in 2004: An Overview of 10 StatesOverview (.pdf)California Case Study (.pdf)

Is the State Fiscal Crisis Over? A 2004 State Budget Update

Medicaid and Block Grant Financing Compared

Reports on Benefits and Cost-Sharing

Medicaid: A Lower-Cost Approach to Serving a High-Cost Population

Online 50-State Benefits Database

Health Insurance Premiums and Cost-Sharing: Findings from the Research on Low-Income Families

Medicaid as a Health Insurer: Current Benefits and Flexibility

Medicaid as a Long-Term Care Program: Current Benefits and Flexibility

Reports on Waivers

Assessing the Role of Recent Waivers in Providing New Coverage

Section 1115 Medicaid and SCHIP Waivers: Policy Implications of Recent Activity

Section 1115 Waivers at a Glance: Summary of Recent Medicaid and SCHIP Waiver Activity

The New Medicaid and SCHIP Waiver Initiatives: Background Paper and Side-by-Side Comparison

State-Specific Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheets

The Financing of Pharmacy Plus Waivers: Implications for Seniors on Medicaid of Global Funding Caps

Medicaid Basics

Medicaid at a Glance

The Medicaid Resource Book