As the U.S. Congress works on legislation to reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation’s welfare program, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured cosponsored a briefing on the health-related issues of the reauthorization.

• Chart Pack: Welfare Reform Reauthorization: A Focus on the Health Issues
• Summary Comparison of Key Health-Related Provisions in TANF Reauthorization Legislation and Proposals (June 28, 2002)
• Fact Sheet — Welfare and Work: How Do They Affect Parents’ Health Care Coverage?
• Policy Brief: Low-Income Parents’ Access to Medicaid Five Years After Welfare Reform
• Fact Sheet — Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA): Medicaid Issue Update
• Testimony: Welfare Reform and Transitional Medical Assistance
• Issue Paper: Women Who Left Welfare: Health Care Coverage, Access, and Use of Health Services
• Report: How Have States Responded to the Eligibility Restricitions on Legal Immigrants in Medicaid and SCHIP?
• View a webcast of the briefing.

This brief uses the latest available data from the National Survey of America’s Families to assess the relationship of health coverage to work status, health, access and use of health services by women who left welfare in 1997 or after and had not returned by 1999.

• Issue Paper

It seems that almost every week the media reports on a new study about the Pill. Forty years after the first birth control pill was approved, research continues into everything from how effective oral contraceptives are to what impact they may have on risk for breast cancer, cervical cancer, or stroke. The Pill is the most widely used reversible contraceptive today and most new birth control methods also rely on hormones just like it. Yet many women remain confused about how best to weigh their pros and cons.

On June 18, at the most recent Emerging Issues in Reproductive Health Briefing a panel of researchers, clinicians, and public health experts discussed if new studies are shedding more light on the benefits and risks of the pill and other hormonal birth control options; how can a woman distinguish between established science and preliminary research; and how do today s hormonal methods stack up against each other and the alternative choices women have and what might tomorrow bring? The panel discussion featured leading experts, including Hoyt G. Wilson, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Reproductive Health; Carolyn L. Westhoff, MD, Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Professor, Department of Ob/Gyn, New York Presbyterian Hospital; Laura Castleman, MD, MPH, an ob/gyn in private practice and Adjunct Clinical Professor at University of Michigan; and Edio Zampaglione, MD, Associate Director for Contraception, Organon Pharmaceuticals.

• Agenda
• Resource List
• Biographies of Participants
• Fact Sheet: Contraceptive Use and Methods in the U.S.
• Issue Update: Hormonal Contraception Forty Years After Approval of “the Pill”
• View webcast and transcript of this event

This fact sheet reviews contraceptive use and methods in the U.S., including current attitudes about contraception, use by adolescents and young adults, various contraception options, and insurance coverage.

Fact Sheet (.pdf)

This report provides current national and state-level data on the number of persons enrolled in Medicaid. In addition to identifying recent trends in Medicaid, this report also examines trends in the various eligibility categories within Medicaid. The report reveals that enrollment in Medicaid increased by 2.2 million individuals, or 8.7 percent annualized, in the first nine months of 2001.

• Report

This report presents information on the number of children enrolled in SCHIP for each state, for specific months from 1998 to 2001. As of December 2001, the SCHIP program covered 3.5 million low-income children. An increase of 780,000 from the previous year.

This fact sheet presents the key questions and answers regarding transitional medical assistance as a part of the Medicaid program and its relationship to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the welfare program.

• Fact Sheet

“the Pill”

This issue update reviews the research to date on the Pill the oldest hormonal contraceptive option as well as current medical recommendations concerning what women should know to make an informed choice about which contraceptive method to use.

• Issue Update: “the Pill”

This issue paper reveals that after three years of relatively slow spending growth, Medicaid spending accelerated in 1999 and 2000, and more rapid growth appears likely to continue. Medicaid spending grew by 7.1 percent ind FY 1999 and 8.6 percent in FY 2000.

This chartpack presents a brief overview of the state of prescription drug coverage among the Medicare population. It reviews the impact of lack of coverage on beneficiaries’ access to prescription drugs, as well as current levels of total and out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs.

• Chart Pack