Promises and Prospects For Low-Income Americans

This book explores critical issues affecting access to health care for low-income Americans by assessing the importance of expansions of health coverage for the poor, the emerging challenges providers who serve low-income and uninsured populations face in a rapidly evolving health care delivery system, and the effects of these changes on particularly vulnerable populations. Articles include:

• IntroductionMarsha Lillie-Blanton, Rose Marie Martinez, Barbara Lyons, Diane Rowland
• A Review Of The Nation’s Progress And Challenges In Assuring Access To Health Care For Low-Income AmericansMarsha Lillie-Blanton
• Children’s Access To Health Care Dana C. Hughes, Kay A. Johnson, Sara Rosenbaum
• Needs of People With Chronic and Disabling ConditionsDennis McCarty, Helen J. Levine
• Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Among Low-Income PopulationsConstance Horgan, Dominic Hodgkin
• The “New” Health Reform and Access To Care:The Problem of the Inner CityJames W. Fossett, Janet D. Perloff
• The Hospital Safety Net: A Study of Inpatient Care for Non-Elderly Vulnerable PopulationsDarrell J. Gaskin
• Medicaid: The Transition to Managed CareJulie Hudman, Barbara Lyons, Risa Ellberger
• Section 1115 Medicaid Waivers:Charting a Path for Medicaid Managed Care Reform Sara Rosenbaum, Julie Darnell, Patricia Seliger Keenan, Lois Simon
• Insight From Oregon and Tennessee: The Influence of State Context on Medicaid Initiatives and Health Care for Low-Income PopulationsMarsha Gold
• Approaches to Assuring Quality Health Care Through State Contracts with Managed Care PlansSara Rosenbaum
• Tools For Monitoring Quality for Vulnerable PopulationsSue Felt-Lisk
• Directions For The FutureMarsha Lillie-Blanton, Rose Marie Martinez, Barbara Lyons, Diane Rowland

• Report: Promises And Prospects For Low-Income Americans

A new survey of state officials, conducted by Vernon Smith of Health Management Associates for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that the number of children enrolled in stateCHIP programs has grown to more than 1.3 million in June 1999 from about 835,000 in December 1998. The survey was released at the July 30th Alliance for Health Reform Briefing on state efforts to enroll more kids in the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

As part of The Faces of Medicare, a collection of fact sheets profiling the characteristics and health needs of different groups of Medicare beneficiaries, highlights key facts about Medicare’s low-income population, who have have greater health needs than those with higher incomes.

• Fact Sheet

As part of The Faces of Medicare, a collection of fact sheets profiling the characteristics and health needs of different groups of Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare and the Under-65 Disabled highlights key information about Medicare’s under-65 disabled, whose disproportionately high rates of health and cognitive problems are compounded by low incomes.

• Fact Sheet

A national random survey of 1053 doctors and 768 nurses on their experiences with and attitudes towards health plans. The survey provides quantitative information from doctors and nurses about their non-elderly patients, as well as verbatim descriptions of patient experiences with health plan decisions, including doctors’ judgments on the consequences health plan denials have on their patients’ health.

• Chart Pack: – Chart Pack
• Report: – Summary of Findings
• Topline/Survey: – Toplines
• Report: – Verbatim Book

A 2-page issue brief about medical groups in California, including a discussion on risk-bearing, solvency and current regulatory approaches. In preparation for a Roundtable Event: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 – 1:00-4:00 PM, State Capitol, Room 447 – Sacramento, California.

• Issue Brief

As part of The Faces of Medicare, a collection of fact sheets profiling the characteristics and health needs of different groups of Medicare beneficiaries, provides key facts about Medicare’s racial and ethnic minority population, who will account for one in three Americans 65 and older by 2025.

• Fact Sheet

As part of The Faces of Medicare, a collection of fact sheets profiling the characteristics and health needs of different groups of Medicare beneficiaries, provides descriptive information about women on Medicare, who constitute nearly seventy percent of Medicare’s poor.

• Fact Sheet

The Medicare beneficiary population is often described in homogenous terms, yet those covered by the program vary significantly in terms of their health, income, supplemental insurance status, and medical service use. profiles the following six groups within the Medicare population, providing basic information, trends and data:

• Healthy retirees, who represent less than 10 percent of the total Medicare population, but sometimes are portrayed as typical of all seniors,
• Under-65 disabled beneficiaries, whose disproportionately high rates of health and cognitive problems are compounded by low incomes,
• Racial and ethnic minority beneficiaries, who by 2025 will account for one in three Medicare beneficiaries,
• Beneficiaries with cognitive impairments, now nearly one in four Medicare beneficiaries, who face unique challenges navigating the health care system,
• Low-income elderly and disabled, who remain among the most vulnerable,
• Women, who constitute over 56 percent of Medicare beneficiaries but nearly 70 percent of Medicare’s poor.

• Fact Sheet: About
• Fact Sheet: – Cognitively Impaired
• Fact Sheet: – Healthy Retirees
• Fact Sheet: – Low Income
• Fact Sheet: – Medicare and Women
• Fact Sheet: – Minority Americans
• Fact Sheet: – Under 65 Disabled

This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicaid program’s increasing reliance on managed care to deliver services.

• Fact Sheet