Perceptions and Reality: How Safe Is the Pill? The Role of the Media, Healthcare Providers, and the Pharmaceutical Industry in Shaping American Women’ A fact sheet, Q&A and resource list prepared for a media briefing that focused on public perceptions and knowledge of the safety of birth control pills compared with the real facts about the risks and benefits. In addition, the program addressed how new information about the health effects of contraception is communicated to the public.

• Fact Sheet: Contraception: Trends in Use, Safety, and Effectiveness
• Q&A
• Toplines/Survey: National Survey on Public Perceptions about Contraception

This report compares the provisions designed to guard against risk selection among the Medicare population in both the Congressional Balanced Budget Act of 1995 and in the President’s budget plan released in December 1995. The report also explores provisions in both that may exacerbate the potential for risk selection.

• Report:

Talking With Kids About Tough Issues is a national campaign to support parents by Children Now and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. This guide for parents offers practical, concrete tips and techniques for talking easily and openly with young children ages 8 to 12 about tough issues: sex, HIV/AIDS, violence, drugs and alcohol.

More about the campaign: Talk With Your Kids…before everyone else does

Delivering HIV Care in a Managed Care Environment: Issues and Strategies

A summary of a meeting held in September 1995, co-sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of organizations that had received grants in 1994 under the Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program to explore delivery of HIV services in a managed care environment. The summary includes a fact sheet on the five funded projects and a comparison of the key features of their HIV managed care models.

• Report: Delivering HIV Care in a Managed Care Environment: Issues and Strategies

This guide for physicians provides resource assistance primary care physicians need to help patients identify risks and to support them in changing their behavior to reduce or eliminate risk of HIV infection. Developing synergies with public and community-based organizations can help physicians confidently refer patients who need further education or counseling. Referral can also help patients maximize their chances for successful risk reduction while creating more time for primary care physicians to focus on other health concerns.

• Report:

The Four Americas: Government and Social Policy Through the Eyes of America’s Multi-racial and Multi-ethnic Society

This report is the first of a series of surveys conducted jointly by The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University examining public knowledge, values and beliefs on major issues and challenges facing our nation, such as race, poverty, reducing the deficit, the role of government in our society, and our nation’s obligations in the world. The hope is that this initiative will contribute to a better understanding of public knowledge and perspectives on these important issues, and to more effective efforts by the media to educate, inform, and engage citizens in national debates.

This first survey focused on how the perspectives of different racial and ethnic groups shaped their attitudes toward social policy and the role of government in America. A reprint of the series as it appeared in The Washington Post October 8-11, 1995 is also available (#1098), and also is included in this report.

• Report

The Impact of the “Medigrant” Plan on the Federal Payments to States

The analysis examines the conference agreement plan for the redistribution of federal funds under a block grant for the Medicaid program. It also discusses the implications of the reductions in federal spending for beneficiary coverage.

• Report: The Impact Of The “Medigrant” Plan On Federal Payments To States

The “New” Health Reform and Access to Care: The Problem in the Inner-City

This report examines issues regarding access to care for vulnerable populations. It presents a picture of urban America from 1970 to 1990 and raises strong concerns about the benefits of “new reform” strategies.

• Report: The “New” Health Reform and Access to Care: The Problem of the Inner City

This report analyzes trends in Medicare expenditures and considers options to modify the program to control its spending growth. It represents an effort to put in context the types of changes being discussed in the ongoing budget debate and to raise cautions, where appropriate, about various strategies.

• Report: Searching For Savings In Medicare

A side-by-side comparison of H.R. 2491, the Seven Year Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act of 1995, and S. 1357 Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act of 1995.

• Report: Medicare Provisions Of The House And Senate Budget Bills: A Side-by-Side Comparison…