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.

• Case Studies

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 report describes past waiver activity, the principles of the new HIFA initiative, and related policy implications.

• Background Paper
• Appendix: Side-by-Side Comparison

More than one-third of all reported AIDS cases in the United States have occurred among injection drug users, their partners, and their children. Public health experts have identified access to sterile syringes as one component of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy designed to reduce HIV transmission among injection drug users. However, others strongly oppose needle exchange, feeling that it promotes drug use and debates about syringe access continue, as does a federal ban on the use of federal funding for syringe exchange programs. This ban, combined with the fact that laws governing syringe access are generally the purview of the states, places the state and local policy role concerning syringe access at the center of the policy debate.

A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Syringe Exchange and AB 136: The Dynamics of Local Consideration in Six California Communities, provides a qualitative assessment of California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 136, which authorizes the operation of syringe exchange programs within the state after a local declaration of emergency. The study is based on interviews with key stakeholders in six California county and city jurisdictions.

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

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.

• Executive Summary