Pulling It Together: The Message from Massachusetts January 27, 2010 Perspective The Massachusetts special election has roiled the political world and profoundly affected the prospects for health reform just when it looked like passage was a lock. Efforts are underway to put health reform legislation back together again on Capitol Hill, but not since powerful Ways and Means Chair Wilbur Mills fell into…
Why Global Health Matters to California November 9, 2009 Event This public forum held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Global Health Sciences, showcased and celebrated California and the Bay Area as a center of excellence in global health.
The Role of Independent Commissions in Controlling Costs and Enhancing Value: International Lessons November 6, 2009 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and the Commonwealth Fund co-sponsored this briefing to examine the quasi-governmental authorities that Germany, the Netherlands and France have established to control health care costs, oversee quality, and regulate insurance and provider payment. How and why have these quasi-governmental authorities come into being? What is…
Show Me the Money: Options for Financing Health Reform July 2, 2009 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund co-sponsored this event to examine options to finance coverage expansions and reforms to both the delivery system and insurance markets. Panelists address the following questions: What options hold the most promise? How do the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office…
Scoring Savings: How Can Quality Improvement Reduce Health Care Costs? June 30, 2009 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and the United Health Foundation co-sponsored this briefing on reducing health care costs while improving quality. Panelists engage in a full discussion of the issues looking at both federal spending and at national expenditures on health and address the following questions: How can the private…
Healing Mind and Body: Behavioral Health and Reform June 30, 2009 Event The Alliance for Health Reform, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Open Society Institute co-sponsored this event to examine how mental health and substance abuse disorder services fit into the health reform discussion. Panelists address the following questions: What mental health and substance use disorder provisions are included in…
Trends in Medicaid Physician Fees, 2003-2008 April 1, 2009 Fact Sheet This study, published in a Health Affairs Web exclusive, provides the first national and state-by-state update of Medicaid physician fees since 2003. Medicaid has historically reimbursed physicians under fee-for-service at levels below what Medicare and private health insurers would pay for the same services. The study finds that Medicaid fees…
Eliminating Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: What are the Options? October 20, 2008 Issue Brief Download PDF Racial and ethnic disparities in health care – whether in insurance coverage, access, or quality of care – are one of many factors producing inequalities in health status in the United States.1 Eliminating these disparities is politically sensitive and challenging in part because their causes are intertwined with…
Snapshots: Offer Rates for Smaller Establishments by Business Age May 1, 2008 Issue Brief Employer-provided health insurance is the primary source of insurance coverage in the United States, covering almost 160 million people or more than 90 percent of the non-elderly privately-insured population.1 In recent years, the percentage of firms who offer such benefits has been falling; 69 percent offered health coverage benefits in 2000,…
Maternity Care and Consumer Driven Health Plans May 31, 2007 Event Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health Plans With maternity care representing one of the most common and costly medical interventions that women experience, Kaiser and the March of Dimes co-hosted a forum to release new studies that analyze the costs of maternity care and assess coverage under consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs).…