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Medicaid and State Budgets: An Overview of Five States’ Experiences in 2001
This issue paper provides an overview of several of the key themes that emerged across case studies of Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas on the role of Medicaid in states budgets.
Health Insurance Coverage in America: 2000 Data Update
This chart book provides year 2000 data on health insurance coverage, with special attention to the uninsured. It includes trends and major shifts in coverage and a profile of the uninsured population.
Compared to women, men are less likely to think about their sexual health – let alone make regular visits to the doctor. However, new research from the Alan Guttmacher Institute shows that reproductive health services should be provided to men, for their own sake. There is also no dispute that men’s sexual health directly affects women.
On March 12, David Landry, Senior Research Associate at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, presented the findings of a new, in-depth examination of men’s health and reproductive health throughout their lives at the latest Emerging Issues in Reproductive Health Briefing. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion of leading experts on men’s sexual health, featuring Freya Sonenstein, Ph.D., Director of Population Studies Center, The Urban Institute; David Bell, M.D., Medical Director of the Young Men’s Clinic, Columbia University; and Nancy Mosher, N.P., President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
This study examines Medicaid pharmacy benefit use and spending among beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid in 10 states by analyzing 1995 enrollment and claims data from a new 12-state database. The study finds that dual-eligibles are relatively high users of the Medicaid pharmacy benefit, with substantial variation in both drug use and spending among this population across the 10 study states. This variation appears to persist independent of beneficiaries’ health status and is likely attributable to cross-state differences in Medicaid eligibility criteria, pharmacy benefit features, provider behavior, and other unmeasured beneficiary characteristics.
The Uninsured and Their Access to Health Care
A fact sheet outlining the uninsured problem using year 2000 data.
Capitol Hill Briefing
HIV remains a leading cause of death among Latinos in the United States, and Latinos with HIV are less likely than whites to receive early care. The rate of AIDS cases among Latinos is almost four times the rate among whites. In addition, Latinos face many unique hurdles to reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS in their communities.
Representative Ciro D. Rodriguez (D-Texas) delivers the opening remarks and Ingrid M. Duran, president and CEO, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute moderates this briefing, a part of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Capitol Hill Briefing Series on HIV/AIDS. The featured panelists are Claude Allen, deputy secretary, Health and Human Services; Jennifer Kates, senior program officer, Kaiser Family Foundation; Daniel C. Montoya, director, Governtment Affairs, AIDS Project Los Angeles; and Charlene Doria-Ortiz, executive director, Center for Health Policy Development.
For more details on the briefing and a link to a webcast of the briefing click on Capitol Hill Briefing Series on HIV/AIDS.
This testimony was delivered by Tricia Neuman, a vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Bush Administration’s Proposals for Medicare Modernization. The statement, which draws upon a report prepared for the Foundation by Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., provides an overview of existing prescription drug discount card programs, describes some of the features of the Administration’s recently released proposal for a Medicare-endorsed discount card program, and raises some of the key issues that currently face consumers in comparing the benefits offered under the discount programs available today.
The President’s Fiscal Year 2003 Budget: An Overview of Health Programs
A new chartbook describes the government’s overall budget situation and examines the health policies and programs proposed in the President’s latest budget.
In January 2002, an international Technical Advisory Group (TAG) traveled to South Africa to observe the programs and to make recommendations on strengthening loveLife’s overall strategy. The TAG strongly and unanimously felt the loveLife project should be both continued and expanded. Particular strengths included its pioneering strategy focusing on the sexual health of youth; its comprehensive program incorporating media messages with services, outreach, and evaluation; the impressive talent of its staff from top down; and the exciting energy of its youth participants.
Excerpts from a forthcoming report based on a national survey of South African youth ages 12-17. The survey was conducted October to November 2001 among a nationally representative sample of 2204 youth, and was designed to shed light on how South African youth view their lives today and what they think about their futures, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour. It also provides some initial data on South African young people’s awareness of, attitudes towards, and experiences with loveLife. The parents and guardians of the 12-17 year-olds were also surveyed about their views and experiences related to open communication about sex and sexuality and about loveLife.