The most recent Kaiser Health Poll Report found that Americans believe prescription drugs are improving their lives, but most also say that the drug industry cares more about profits than people. The current report analyzes the new data as well as related polling information from earlier surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and other organizations.

News Release

Survey Toplines (.pdf)

Medicaid Financing Issues: Intergovernmental Transfers and Fiscal Integrity

Since its enactment in 1965, Medicaid has been a joint venture between the states and the federal government. While each state administers its own Medicaid program within broad federal guidelines, the federal government provides over half of the program’s financing. As a result, Medicaid represents a spending item, but it is also the single largest source of federal revenue to the states.

In recent years there has been much discussion about states’ use of creative financing to draw down additional federal funds for Medicaid financing. Some suggest a curb on these practices and the President’s FY2006 budget includes provisions targeting inter-governmental transfers (IGTs). This fact sheet provides an overview of Medicaid financing, the use of IGTs by states, and the current policy issues surrounding IGT rules.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

A joint survey conducted by the Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University explores the public’s knowledge about the Social Security program and their attitudes about Social Security reform.

Survey Toplines (.pdf)

Dual Eligibles: Medicaid’s Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries

This fact sheet and set of tables describe the over 7 million “dual eligibles,” the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. The fact sheet describes why this population needs Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and the current policy challenges related to dual eligibles, including the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The set of tables, prepared by the Urban Institute for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, presents the most current state-by-state data on Medicaid enrollment and expenditures for dual eligibles.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This document summarizes the final regulations to implement the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The regulations were published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a final rule in the Jan. 28 Federal Register. It provides an overview that allows interested parties to obtain information about specific provisions of the law. The summary was prepared by Health Policy Alternatives Inc. on behalf of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Charts (.pdf)

Navigating Medicare and Medicaid: Resource Guides for People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Their Advocates

These guides explain the critical role Medicare and Medicaid have come to play in the lives and the futures of roughly 20 million children, adults, and seniors with disabilities – and give people with disabilities new information to help them get the most from these programs.

Navigating Medicare and Medicaid, 2005

Keeping Medicare and Medicaid When You Work, 2005

This guide helps to explain the program rules for Medicare and Medicaid with regard to work. Medicare and Medicaid have come to play important roles in the lives and the futures of roughly 20 million children, adults, and seniors with disabilities – and this guide gives people with disabilities new information to help them get the most from these programs.

Full PDF Report

Section 1: Protecting Health Coverage For People With Disabilities Who Work

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Section 2: Work-Related Incentives For Persons on Either SSDI or SSI

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Section 3: Additional Work Incentives Available to People with Disabilities on SSDI

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Section 4: Additional Work Incentives Available to People with Disabilities on SSI

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Section 5: Medicaid Buy-In Programs

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Medicaid’s Optional Populations: Coverage and Benefits

Medicaid reform discussions have often focused around giving states greater flexibility over optional populations and services. This issue brief presents an overview of Medicaid’s optional beneficiaries and services and provides examples of who qualifies as “optional” and the services they use.

Issue Brief (.pdf)

Financing Health Coverage: The State Children’s Health Insurance Program Experience

Enactment of SCHIP sought a balance between increasing funds available for coverage and limiting total federal outlays. While SCHIP has had widespread support and success in helping to provide coverage for uninsured children, its capped financing system has also created challenges for states, including inequities among states and projected federal funding shortfalls. This issue brief explores three basic sets of issues associated with SCHIP’s funding structure: efforts to control and make federal spending more predictable limits the flexibility of a funding structure that responds to program needs; inequities and problems targeting funds are unavoidable when distributing capped federal funding to states through a pre-set formula; and while attempts to fix distributional problems can provide some help, they also make the funding system more complex and hard to manage. The analysis offers valuable lessons to consider when the program is up for reauthorization in 2007, but also with respect to efforts to redesign aspects of the Medicaid program.

Issue Paper (.pdf)