In 2000, there were over 32 million foreign-born residents in the U.S. Immigrants often face barriers to health coverage and health services. The disparities confronting immigrants can be similar to those faced by low-income working families generally, but immigrants also face other barriers, including linguistic issues and eligibility changes that have limited their ability to qualify for Medicaid.

These new or updated publications address issues related to how race, immigration status, and language affect insurance coverage and access to care for non-citizens. Additionally, one report focuses on issues of linguistic access in health care settings and provides an overview of the current legal rights and responsibilities of health care service and coverage providers.

Immigrants’ Health Care Coverage and Access fact sheet

Disparities in Health Coverage, Access, and Quality: The Impact of Citizenship Status and Language on Low-Income Immigrants

How Race/Ethnicity, Immigration Status, and Language Affect Health Insurance Coverage, Access to and Quality of Care Among the Low-Income Population

Ensuring Linguistic Access in Health Care Settings: An Overview of Current Legal Rights and Responsibilities

This report examines the roles that race, language and citizenship status play in insurance coverage, access to health care and quality of health care, particularly for the low-income Latino population. The findings demonstrates that citizenship status and language proficiency have a significant impact on insurance coverage, access to care and the quality of care received among the low-income population.

Report (.pdf)

In order to ensure access to care for limited English proficient residents, there are a number of federal and state laws and policies that compel publicly funded health care programs and activities to provide language access. This report focuses on the language access responsibilities of health care and coverage providers pursuant to federal civil rights laws.

Report (.pdf)

Fact Sheet

Medicaid: Fiscal Challenges to Coverage

This brief policy analysis outlines key points about the current state fiscal crisis and its impact on Medicaid’s health coverage role.

Policy Brief (.pdf)

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This document, prepared by Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., provides a detailed side-by-side comparison of the prescription drug provisions of the House and Senate Medicare proposals, as passed on June 27, 2003. Along with these provisions, the side-by-side compares the major provisions relating to the role of private health plans in Medicare. This document includes a more in-depth description of the bills, which were previously summarized in publication #6095, which is also available on the Foundation?s website. We will continue to update this side-by-side to reflect the Conference Agreement.

A one-page summary of the bills is also provided.

• Report
• Executive Summary: One-page summary

This paper produces alternative estimates of the numbers of uninsured and explores the distribution of the duration of uninsured spells for people who lacked coverage at some time during a 12-month period.

• Policy Brief
• Link to fact sheet, Lack of Coverage: A Long-Term Problem for Most Uninsured

loveLife: South Africa’s National HIV Prevention Program for Youth

At the current rate of infection, South African teenagers have a 50% chance of contracting HIV over the course of their lives. Half of South Africa’s new HIV infections occur before the age of 25. Relatively modest changes in adolescent sexual behaviour could substantially curtail the HIV epidemic and there are hopeful signs that perhaps the worst-case projections for the scale of the HIV epidemic in South Africa may yet be averted.

loveLife, South Africa’s national HIV prevention programme for youth, was launched in September 1999, by a consortium of leading South African public health organisations in partnership with a coalition of more than 100 community-based organisations, the South African government, major South African media groups and private foundations.

loveLife combines a highly visible sustained national multi-media HIV education and awareness campaign with countrywide adolescent friendly service development in government clinics, and a national network of outreach and support programmes for youth.

loveLife is a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to youth behaviour change that implements, on an unprecedented scale, the international experience of the past 20 years – combining well-established public health techniques with innovative marketing approaches to promote healthy AIDS-free living among South African teenagers.

The Foundation runs the largest public opinion research program in health. It undertakes original research on the public’s attitudes towards health and social policy issues. Working independently—or in partnership with major national media organizations and academic partners—the Foundation examines Americans’ knowledge and beliefs on major issues and challenges in order to amplify the public’s voice in national debates. In addition, the Foundation monitors coverage of health and health care issues across local and national media to better understand the role of the media in informing Americans on key health and policy issues.

Public Opinion and Survey Research Publications

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