The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
This fact sheet, updated in April 2003, profiles current sources of prescription drug coverage among the Medicare population, describes the characteristics of beneficiaries who lack drug coverage and the implications of being without such coverage, and provides current data on prescription drug use and spending.
Fact Sheet (.pdf)
This report details the rules governing prior authorization programs and the major steps in a model process based on key issues raised by beneficiary advocates, provider groups and states.
Health News Index March/April, 2003
The Health News Index measures public attention to and knowledge about leading health stories covered in the news in February and March. The Health News Index is designed to help news media and people in the health field gain a better understanding of which health stories Americans are following and what they understand about those issues.
The fifth in a series of fact sheets on topics related to children, media and health pulls together the most relevant research that has been conducted about the impact of news on children, in times of war and in times of relative peace. The fact sheet explores how children reacted to televised accounts of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It also includes guidelines for parents on helping children cope with news coverage of traumatic events.
This report is a case study of five states’ (California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington) implementation of prior authorization in their Medicaid programs.
Understanding how Medicare+Choice (M+C) plans manage their drug benefits may generate important lessons for Medicare. This report, based on interviews with both national and regional managed care firms, provides an in-depth look at how plans have managed their M+C outpatient pharmacy benefits in recent years. Findings show that plans rely on a number of cost management strategies to constrain the growth in drug spending including formularies, tiered-copayments, mail-order benefits, and fixed caps or dollar limits on drug benefits. When spending begins to spiral and Medicare capitation rates do not increase commensurately, plans may revert to more certain methods for controlling drug costs like capping drug benefit levels, which helps limit their financial exposure, but shifts risk onto beneficiaries.
A new survey by National Public Radio, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, examines Americans’ attitudes towards taxes, views on tax policy proposals, and knowledge about the federal tax system.
Toplines/Survey (.pdf)
Executive Summary (.pdf)
View results and listen to stories about the survey on NPR’s website
Fact Sheet (.pdf)
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured is closely following waiver activity to provide information on how these waivers are impacting the uninsured and affecting Medicaid and SCHIP and the coverage provided to low-income beneficiaries.
Tennessee Section 1115 Waiver Amendment Proposal Fact Sheet
California Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
Colorado Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
Delaware Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
Illinois Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
Maine Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
New Mexico Section 1115 Waiver Fact Sheet
Baby Boom to Generation X: Progress in Young Women’s Health
Baby Boom to Generation X: Progress in Young Women’s Health, by Alina Salganicoff, Barbara Wentworth, and Liberty Greene of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a chapter from The American Woman 2003-2004, Daughters of a Revolution–Young Women Today, Cynthia Costello, Vanessa Wight, and Anne J. Stone, editors. The chapter explores the changes that have taken place in young women’s health over the past twenty-five years. It discusses young women’s health status and access to care since the 1970s, outlines programmatic developments in health care as they affect young women, and examines the impact of cultural shifts in reproductive health and maternity care as well as the contribution of new medical advances.