This report, written by Marilyn Moon and Matthew Storeygard of the Urban Institute, estimates the potential cost of targeting drug benefits to low-income Medicare beneficiaries and those with catastrophic drug expenses and discusses some of the key programmatic issues that could arise under this approach. The authors predict that a targeted and comprehensive drug benefit would likely help more than half of the 11.3 million low-income beneficiaries who lack drug coverage through Medicaid or an employer-sponsored plan. Covering this population and offering catastrophic protection to beneficiaries with extremely high out-of-pocket drug expenses would require an estimated $345 billion over ten years.

• Report
• Medicare and Prescription Drugs, Fact Sheet

Newly released survey findings show continued public support for patient protections, including the right to sue health plans, but that support erodes if people believe that the cost of health insurance may increase or that companies might stop offering health coverage to their workers. The survey found that the percentage of people reporting problems with their health plans and the urgency the public attaches to Congressional action has not changed in recent years.

Public Opinion Update, February 2000: The Public, Managed Care, and Consumer Protection (.pdf)

Past surveys and studies concerning Patients’ Rights

Twenty years into the AIDS epidemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted its most recent survey of Americans about HIV/AIDS. This report summarizes the key findings from the survey, including analysis of trends over time and across race/ethnicity, age, and gender. It describes Americans’ concerns about HIV/AIDS as a personal, national, and global issue. It also assesses Americans’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS, their information needs, and their perspective on important policy issues and spending priorities.

Report (.pdf)

Timeline (.pdf)

Report: African Americans Views of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at 20 Years: Findings from a National Survey

Report: Latinos Views of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at 20 Years: Findings from a National Survey

This issue brief, prepared by Linda Blumberg and Len Nichols of the Urban Institute, examines the factors contributing to the disproportionately high rates of uninsurance among California’s workers compared to the U.S. The report looks at differences in coverage by race and ethnicity, and by citizenship status, and also examines offer and take-up rates for employer health insurance among California’s workers.

• Issue Brief

This chartpack highlights results from a survey of the perceptions and attitudes of 550 Black elected officials (BEOs) on HIV/AIDS issues. The survey, a collaborative effort of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Kaiser Family Foundation, interviewed elected officials from 12 states and jurisdictions that have been hard hit by the HIV epidemic. The officials were selected randomly by type of office (federal, state, county, municipal, school board, judiciary). The survey included questions on perceptions of the impact of the HIV epidemic, the adequacy of efforts to address it, and their views on proposed policy options for combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Findings from the survey were highlighted in a supplement to the journal Minority Health Today.

• Chart Pack: Survey of Black Elected Officials On HIV/AIDS

Are Schools Just Saying No

Federal and state policymakers face a major challenge in addressing the health needs of an increasingly diverse population. That challenge can be even greater in the growing number of cities and states with large immigrant communities. In a Commission-sponsored conference call on May 15, experts on immigrant health issues discussed recent findings about how the health system is and is not working for immigrants and their potential policy implications.

Audio from the conference call is available below, as well as links to information about the call and relevant reports from the Commission.

Listen to the conference call.

• Agenda
• Speaker Biographies
• Fact Sheet: Immigrants’ Health Care Coverage and Access
• Chart Pack: Immigrants’ Health Care: Coverage and Access
• Issue Paper: Is Immigration Responsible for the Growth in the Number of the Uninsured?
• Policy Brief: Medicaid Eligibility and Citizenship Status: Policy Implications for Immigrant Populations
• Background Paper: Immigrants’ Access to Health Care After Welfare Reform: Findings from Focus Groups in Four Cities
• Background Paper: Caring for Immigrants: Health Care Safety Nets in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Houston
• Link to find “Left Out: Immigrants’ Access to Health Care and Insurance”

• Fact Sheet: Condoms

Some think they could be the biggest news for women since the pill. What are they? Microbicides. Scientists around the world are working to develop gels, creams, and other products that destroy or disable the viruses and bacteria that cause HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). While microbicides are not yet available, some public health experts believe they could hold promise as a method of prevention that women could initiate themselves. So, what, if any, role could microbicides play in addressing the global AIDS crisis? Could they really help curb the spread of other STDs? Is early research yielding real hope or are initial reports just hype? And what would it take to make microbicides a reality?

A panel of experts, including Polly Harrison, PhD, Director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development; Tina Hoff, Vice President, Public Health Information and Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation; Zeda Rosenberg, MD, Scientific Director, Family Health International; Jacqueline E. Darroch, PhD Senior Vice President and Vice President for Research, Alan Guttmacher Institute; and Steven W. Schondelmeyer, PhD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Economics, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy discussed at an Emerging Issues in Reproductive Health Briefing discussed the future of microbicides, what it would take to bring them to market, and what they would mean for HIV and other STD prevention

• Agenda
• Resource List
• Biographies
• Condoms
• Issue Update
• Webcast of the briefing