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A new report presenting year 2000 trends on prescription drug spending, summarizing states options in designing their benefit, and reviewing several ways states are using their flexibility to curb the rate of growth of their Medicaid drug budgets.
This report examines a Medicare-based approach to reducing the ranks of the uninsured that would permit early retirees between the ages of 62 and 65 to purchase coverage under Medicare. The paper begins with an overview of the challenges of insuring the near-elderly and explores the potential effects of a Medicare buy-in on coverage of this population. The authors conclude that, unless premiums for such coverage were low or tied to enrollees’ income, this approach would have a relatively small impact on both the number of uninsured near-elderly and retirement decisions.
An Analysis of Reforming Medicare Through a ‘Premium Support’ Program
This report examines one of the leading approaches to reforming the Medicare program, known as premium support. Under this model, the current Medicare program would be replaced by a system of competing public and private health plans, and the federal government would pay a set amount per beneficiary. The authors conclude that, while premium support could potentially improve Medicare’s efficiency and improve quality, traditional Medicare could experience erosion over time, resulting in higher costs and more unstable coverage for seniors.
Florida’s Medicaid Prescription Drug Benefit: A Case Study
A new study summarizes and discusses the state s attempt to reform its Medicaid prescription drug benefit program.
A brief policy analysis (revised as of January 2002) examines the relationship between the unemployment rate and increases in the uninsured and finds that for every percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, 1.2 million people will become uninsured.
Medicaid’s Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries
An overview that identifies low-income Medicare beneficiaries (dual eligibles), how Medicaid can provide care for them, and the challenges to accessing care.
Medicaid coverage substantially improves access to health care and lessens the financial burden of medical care for low-income seniors, but the program currently reaches only half of all poor Medicare beneficiaries. This report presents findings of focus groups with low-income seniors in an effort to understand barriers to enrollment for those who are eligible for Medicaid but who are not enrolled in the program, and to learn about the experiences of low-income seniors who are enrolled in Medicaid to see how the program is working for them. The report concludes with a list of strategies for encouraging greater enrollment of low-income seniors in Medicaid.
Many women rely on their physicians to help them assess whether they are at risk for STDs and to provide them with information about testing, treatment and how to protect themselves. To better understand how often they discuss and screen for STDs, including HIV, the Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed 767 physicians, including 566 obstetricians and gynecologists and 201 family practice practitioners, for the National Survey of Women’s Health Care Providers on Reproductive Health.
As the nation once again faces double digit increases in health care costs, the seemingly unanswerable question of how to control the problem has suddenly returned to the nation’s radar screen. This analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, published in the January 23, 2002 online version of the journal Health Affairs (under Web Exclusives) traces the effectiveness of government and private sector attempts to reign in health care costs over the past three decades and finds that no approach that has been tried in the past 35 years has had a lasting impact.
Nelson Mandela and loveLife Launch National Youth Corps to fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa
Former President Nelson Mandela has announced the establishment of a national youth service corps dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Known as Groundbreakers, the corps will be a major new component of loveLife – South Africa’s national HIV prevention program for youth. Mr. Mandela announced the initiative, a partnership between loveLife and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, during the presentation of the 2002 Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in Cape Town.
“The Groundbreakers will help young South Africans take an active role in reducing the spread of HIV, while developing skills to build healthy futures,” said John Samuel, Chief Executive of the Mandela Foundation. “If HIV infections continue at their current rate, over 50% of today’s young South Africans could become HIV infected. The Groundbreakers will play a key role in motivating young people to take control of their lives, get the information they need and to stop the epidemic in its tracks.”
Groundbreakers volunteers, all between 18 and 25 years of age, will give one year of service in loveLife in return for personal and professional skills training that will help them secure future employment. Over the next three years, the Groundbreakers youth corps is expected to grow to about 600 members.
The Groundbreakers initiative will complement loveLife‘s comprehensive approach to HIV prevention for young people, which includes: