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KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
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This brief examines uninsured childless adults and how they could be affected by health reform, including estimates of how many might qualify for coverage under a Medicaid expansion, how many would be eligible for subsidies and how many would not be eligible for such help. Issue Brief (.pdf)
The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) provides states new options to reach and enroll eligible but uninsured low-income children into Medicaid and CHIP. The law's Express Lane Eligibility (ELE) provisions enable state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to identify, enroll and recertify children by relying on eligibility findings from other programs, such as Head Start or Food Stamps, rather than having to re-analyze eligibility under their own rules. Further, CHIPRA authorizes greater…
This brief examines uninsured children and how they could be affected by health reform, including estimates of how many might qualify for coverage under a Medicaid expansion, how many would be eligible for subsidies and how many would not be eligible for such help. Issue Brief (.pdf)
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) includes an unprecedented nearly $47 billion federal investment in health information technology initiatives. This e-health snapshot provides an overview of the health information technology provisions in the law that have direct implications for Medicaid. Health Information Technology (HIT) offers the promise of potential improvements in quality of care as well as increased efficiencies in care and cost savings. Medicaid, which covers nearly 60 million people, can…
As millions of people lose their jobs and job-based health insurance during the recession, the Kaiser Family Foundation has several reports and a video that shed light on the rising toll on American families and the public programs that many depend on to fill the gap during times of crisis. Rising Health Pressures in an Economic Recession: A 360-Degree Look at Four Communities, and a companion video, On the Edge: Health Care in the Recession…
Faced with an unsustainable growth in health care costs, both employers and policymakers have begun to consider the potential savings that might be achieved by investments in health promotion and better access to preventive care. There has also been public discussion about the potential of building financial incentives for healthy behaviors and the use of prevention services into health plans. Creating the right incentives is a challenge however, because experience is so limited and healthy…
This report draws on interviews and focus groups in four communities to examine at the grassroots levels the experiences of families, employers, safety-net providers and community organizations in four U.S. communities hard hit by the recession. The communities are Beloit, Wisc.; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; Long Island, N.Y.; and Sonoma, Calif. The report explores the financial and personal struggles of families who have suffered economic reversals and lost health coverage, forcing many to juggle bills and…
As the nation considers national health reform, this brief provides an overview of opportunities to realign federal and state policy for the dual eligibles to promote a more rational, cost-efficient system for 9 million of the poorest, sickest and highest-cost people covered by both Medicaid and Medicare. Navigating two programs with different rules and financing incentives is complex for beneficiaries and providers, impedes efforts to improve care coordination and results in cost-shifting between programs that…
This issue brief relies on interviews with practicing clinicians to explore the impact of the recession on hospital emergency departments that are under growing pressure as patient volume increases, health coverage declines and medical costs present new challenges to unemployed families. Issue Brief (.pdf)
This fact sheet provides state-level data from a Kaiser survey that found that a large number of states are using state funds to provide health coverage to legal immigrant children and pregnant women through Medicaid, CHIP or another state program. Under the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, states now have the option to provide federally matched Medicaid or CHIP to some or all of the legal immigrants they have been covering solely…
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