Talking with Kids About Tough Issues has teamed up with Nickelodeon in a national initiative launching March 8th, 2001 to support parent-child communication about “tough issues”-sex, violence, drugs and respect. The partnership will kick off with the release of data from a new survey of kids age 8-15 and their parents.

Talking with Kids and Nickelodeon have developed new multimedia resources to help parents and kids talk together about issues like puberty and sex, violence, alcohol and drugs, and respect. At everythingnick.com, parents can get age-appropriate guidance and tips for raising topics with their kids. At nick.com/your_world, kids can take a “Talk Challenge” and share experiences. Parents can also call 1 800 CHILD 44 to receive a free guide developed exclusively for the partnership by parenting expert and best-selling author Dominic Cappello. Parents and kids can find out about these resources through public service advertisements (PSAs) airing on Nickelodeon and other Viacom properties, including VH-1, TNN, CMT, Nick at Nite, and Noggin.

Talking with Kids About Tough Issues campaign website

• Presentation Slides

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.

• Fact Sheet

Health Insurance Coverage in America: 1999 Data Update

This chart book provides the latest information on health insurance coverage, with special attention to the uninsured. It includes trends and major shifts in coverage and a profile of the uninsured population.

• Chartbook
• Link to other Health Insurance Coverage in America chartbooks.

A background report that assesses how various factors influence changes in the health care system for immigrants in four urban areas with large immigrant populations (Los Angeles, New York, Houston, and Miami.)

• Background Paper

Diane Rowland, executive director of the Commission, testified to the Subcommittee on Health of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce about providing prescription drugs to seniors. Her testimony includes discussion of Medicaid’s role in providing outpatient drug coverage.

• Testimony
• Chart Pack

Health News Index January/February, 2001

The January/February, 2001 edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation/HarvardSchool of Public Health, Health News Index includes questions about major health stories covered in the news, including questions about President Bush’s executive order on U.S. funding of international family planning groups. The survey is based on a national random sample of 1,021 Americans conducted January 25-28, 2001, which measures public knowledge of health stories covered by news media during the previous month. The Health News Index is designed to help the news media and people in the health field gain a better understanding of which health stories in the news Americans are following and what they understand about those health issues. Every two months, Kaiser/Harvard issues a new index report.

• HNI January-February 2001
• Topline/Survey

An article in the January/February 2001 issue of Health Affairs by Judith Feder, Larry Levitt, Ellen O’Brien, and Diane Rowland assesses how best to expand health insurance coverage for the low-income uninsured. The article concludes that despite flaws in existing public programs, which can and should be remedied, strengthening programs like Medicaid and CHIP establishes a foundation for truly effective coverage for all low-income Americans.

Available at www.healthaffairs.org.

Low-income women’s high rate of health problems and limited economic resources make access to health care and adequate health insurance coverage particularly important. Health coverage, whether through the private sector or publicly through Medicaid, has been demonstrated to improve access to care for low-income women. However, obtaining coverage is not easy or even possible for many women. Job-based insurance is not always an option for low-income women, despite their high workforce participation. Assistance is available to some women through Medicaid, but the program s restrictive income and categorical requirements leave millions ineligible and often uninsured. This fact sheet presents coverage rates for low-income women ages 18 to 64, highlights subgroups of women at particular risk of being uninsured, and examines changes in coverage from 1994 to 1998.

• Fact Sheet

This study is the second in a biennial series of studies examining both the amount and the nature of television’s sexual messages, paying special attention to references to such issues as contraception, safer sex, and waiting to have sex. (The prior report is publication #1458.) The current study also examines any changes that have occurred in the presentation of sexual messages on television over the last two years. The study looked at 1,114 programs from the 1999/00 television season across ten different channels, representing broadcast, public, cable, independent, and premium channels. The full report is available separately as publication #3088.

• Executive Summary