A national telephone survey, conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Opinion Research Center, of 3,993 randomly selected U.S. adults between February and April 1995. The questions probed for three events in the prior year: an episode of being uninsured, problems getting medical care, and/or problems paying medical bills. The 1,234 adults (31% of respondents) who said they had at least one of the three events were asked to provide verbatim descriptions of the consequences of these events on their physical or mental health,family relationships, employment, and household finances. Available are: a reprint of the article “Whatever Happened to the Health Insurance Crisis? Voices from a National Survey”, from The Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 23-30, 1996, which discusses the study, charts summarizing key findings, and a report of the verbatim responses.

Kaiser Family Foundation/Field Institute survey of Californians on the Health Care Initiatives, Propositions 214 and 216

August 14-21, 1996 September 23-30, 1996

Questionnaire and Toplines

1. Are you currently covered by medical insurance or some other form of government or private health plan that will pay all or part of your doctor bills or hospitalization should you require it?

August 1996 September 1996 Yes, covered 81% 82% No, not covered 19% 18% Don’t know * *

2. Is your (main health)(Medicare) coverage a fee

The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University Survey Project is a three-way partnership and an experiment in combining survey research and reporting to better inform the public. The Post, Kaiser, and Harvard jointly design and analyze surveys examining public knowledge, perceptions, and misperceptions on major issues. The Post then reports the results as well as the facts to dispel myths and correct misperceptions. We hope this project contributes to a better understanding of public knowledge on major issues facing the country, and to more effective efforts by the media to educate, inform, and engage citizens in national debates.

Results of two surveys that track Californian’s knowledge of the two initiatives on the California Ballot, Propositions 214 and 216 (also known as the Patient Protection Acts) and attitudes towards them as the debate unfolds. The surveys were conducted from August 14-21, 1996 and from September 23-30, 1996. Also included with this material is data on how much is being spent on television advertising for and against the propositions and who is being reached by the ads. The material was released at a briefing held for journalists in San Francisco, California on October 10, 1996.

A Report to the Southern Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group

• Report:

Note: This publication is no longer in circulation. However, a few copies may still exist in the Foundation’s internal library that could be xeroxed. Please email order@kff.org if you would like to pursue this option

The October 1996 edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard Health News Index includes questions about major health issues covered in the news, including questions about Teen Drug Use, RU486, Hospital Stays for Mothers and Mental Health Coverage. The survey is based on a national random sample of 1,008 Americans conducted October 11-15, 1996 which measures public knowledge of helth 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.

Note: This publication is no longer in circulation. However, a few copies may still exist in the Foundation’s internal library that could be xeroxed. Please email order@kff.org if you would like to pursue this option.”

This study, conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation by Katharine E. Heintz-Knowles, Ph.D., University of Washington, presents a “snapshot” of the sexual content on soap operas today. Katharine Heintz-Knowles examined 97 hours of programming from theten nationally televised soap operas between May 27 and June 28, 1996. The study was presented on September 7, 1996 to producers and writers of soap operas and network executives at SOAP SUMMIT II, a day-long seminar produced by Population CommunicationsInternational to examine reproductive health-related issues. The Foundation is also a funder of the Summit.

• Chart Pack
• Ratings
• News Release: Amount of Sexual Content on Soaps Remains Unchanged in Recent Years, Although Trend Is to Talk Less About Sex and Show More Sexual Situations
• Report

Researchers, clinicians, and policymakers examine the challenge of improving contraceptive use in the United States through a look at patient-provider relationships, currently available methods of contraception, the needs of special populations, and promising intervention and communication strategies. This article was part of those published as a special supplement to Obstetrics & Gynecology, Volume 88,September 1996, Number 3 (Supplement).

• Report: Obstetrics & Gynecology.