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.

• Report

Responding to the Threat of Bioterrorism: Is California’s Public Health System Ready? — Issue Brief

A 4-page issue brief which looks at the threat of bioterrorism and the public health system s role in responding to such an attack. The issue brief also addresses what can be done nationally and in California to prepare for a possible bioterrorist attack. The brief lists the panel for a California Health Policy Roundtable to be held in Sacramento, California on March 18, 2002.

• Issue Brief
• Webcast of this event

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.

• Chartbook
• View a webcast of A Capitol Hill briefing on budgets and health care

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.

• Testimony
• Report: Prescription Drug Discount Cards: Current Programs and Issues
• View a Webcast of this Hearing

Teens and young adults face many pressures and decisions involving alcohol, drugs, and sexual activity decisions that often occur simultaneously. Almost one quarter of sexually active young people aged 15-24 report having sex without a condom because they were drinking or using drugs at the time. These findings are from a new national survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and released at a conference, Dangerous Liaisons: Substance Abuse and Sexual Behavior, sponsored by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

• Fact Sheet

This paper, featured in the February 27, 2002, online issue of Health Affairs, examines trends in Medicare beneficiaries supplemental insurance and prescription drug coverage between 1996 and 1999, using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care files. It also provides snapshot estimates of coverage among subgroups of Medicare beneficiaries in 1999. The findings from this study provide important context for the debate over current policy proposals to reform Medicare and extend prescription drug coverage to the entire Medicare population.

• Journal Article

A new national study on public service advertising finds that broadcast and cable television networks donate an average of 15 seconds an hour to air public service ads (PSAs), representing just under one-half of one percent (0.4%) of all airtime.

Shouting to be Heard: Public Service Advertising in a New Media Age was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation at a forum of nonprofit groups, policymakers and media leaders brought together to discuss the future of public service advertising.

• Toplines/Survey: Public Service Directors

This background paper, written by Charles Atkin, Michigan State University, reviews the research measuring effects of media-based health communication campaigns, to determine the degree of impact of campaigns on health behaviors, and identify promising strategies for increasing campaign effectiveness. The paper was released in conjunction with Shouting to be Heard: Public Service Advertising in a New Media Age, a new national study on public service advertising.

• Background Paper

PSAs in a New Media Age

A new national study on public service advertising finds that broadcast and cable television networks donate an average of 15 seconds an hour to air public service ads (PSAs), representing just under one-half of one percent (0.4%) of all airtime. Shouting to be Heard: Public Service Advertising in a New Media Age was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation at a forum of nonprofit groups, policymakers and media leaders brought together to discuss the future of public service advertising.

• Report: TV Content

A new national study on public service advertising finds that broadcast and cable television networks donate an average of 15 seconds an hour to air public service ads (PSAs), representing just under one-half of one percent (0.4%) of all airtime. Shouting to be Heard: Public Service Advertising in a New Media Age was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation at a forum of nonprofit groups, policymakers and media leaders brought together to discuss the future of public service advertising.

• Case Studies