As Seen on TV: Health Policy Issues in TV s Medical Dramas

The popularity of hospital-based TV shows and the recent Hollywood movie, John Q, have raised questions about the extent to which the entertainment media engage health policy issues and how those issues are portrayed. This is the full report of a study of the 2000-2001 television season of four television hospital dramas.

• Report

Response to the Movie, John Q

When the movie, John Q, was released in February 2002, it brought a new round of press attention to the issue of health insurance coverage in America, and to the role of entertainment media in drawing public attention to or reflecting public concern with this topic. These are the results of a survey of adult Americans about the impact of the movie.

• Executive Summary

Survey Snapshot: Response to the Movie, John Q

When the movie, John Q, was released in February 2002, it brought a new round of press attention to the issue of health insurance coverage in America, and to the role of entertainment media in drawing public attention to or reflecting public concern with this topic. This is the summary of a survey of adult Americans about the impact of the movie.

• Survey Snapshot (.pdf)

Survey Snapshot: The Impact of TV’s Health Content: A Case Study of ER Viewers

Working with a writer/producer of the NBC drama, ER, to get advance information about upcoming episodes, researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted 10 separate national random-sample telephone surveys of regular viewers to determine the impact of entertainment media as an information source on health and health policy.

• Survey Snapshot

As Seen on TV: Health Policy Issues in TV s Medical Dramas

The popularity of hospital-based TV shows and the recent Hollywood movie, John Q, have raised questions about the extent to which the entertainment media engage health policy issues and how those issues are portrayed. This is the executive summary of a study of the 2000-2001 television season of four television hospital dramas.

• Executive Summary (.pdf)

This report examines the characteristics of health centers that serve an unusually high rate of uninsured patients. It explores what external factors influence uninsured patients to seek care at these centers and assesses the impact of a disproportionately high volume of uninsured patients on these centers’ finances and operations.

• Report

The Kaiser Family Foundation helped conduct a national survey of over 1,000 informal caregivers in 1998 to assess the policy issues involved with this new, growing role for many family members and friends. Nearly one of every four adults (23 percent) is an informal caregiver, and, as the American population ages, it is likely families will take on an even greater responsibility to keep their loved ones at home and in communities.

The Foundation is pleased to provide you with a chartpack that presents the key findings from the survey and a link to a just-released Health Affairs article principally authored by Karen Donelan.

• Chart Pack
• Link to an abstract of the article, “Challenged to Care: Informal Caregivers in a Changing Health System”
• Link to “Medicaid’s Role in Long-Term Care” Fact Sheet

WP/Harvard/KFF National Survey of the Public s Attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University Survey Project’s latest findings appeared in articles in The Washington Post on July 6 and July 7, 2002. This survey explores the public s attitudes towards HIV/AIDS in the US and the World.

• Toplines/Survey

SexSmarts Survey- Teens and Sexual Health Communication

As part of an on-going public information partnership called SexSmarts, seventeen magazine and the Kaiser Family Foundation conduct nationally-representative surveys of teens 15 to 17 on issues related to their sexual health.

This survey examines sexual health communication between teens and their parents, health care providers and partners. The results suggest that nearly four in 10 sexually active adolescents say their parents don’t know they are having sex. And, more than half of all teens surveyed say they have never talked with their parents about how to have a conversation about contraception, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), or condoms with someone they might be dating (July 2002).

Summary of Findings

Toplines/Survey

This policy brief provides an analysis of trends in U.S. federal spending on the HIV/AIDS epidemic since FY 1981, the year in which the epidemic began. To date, the U.S. government has invested more than $100 billion in combating the epidemic.

• Policy Brief:
• Other Reports in the Spending on the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Series