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  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: October 2014

    Feature

    In the final Kaiser Health Tracking Poll before the 2014 midterm elections in November, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be just one of several issues on voters’ minds. Less than 1 in 10 registered voters identify the ACA as the most important issue to their vote, ranking behind the economy, dissatisfaction with government, education and the situation in Iraq and Syria. With the ACA’s second open enrollment period approaching, the poll also finds the uninsured are not yet tuned in. About 9 in 10 of the uninsured are unaware of when the next open enrollment period begins, two thirds say they know “only a little” or “nothing at all” about the marketplaces, and just over half are unaware of financial assistance available.

  • The ACA’s Basic Health Program Option: Federal Requirements and State Trade-Offs

    Report

    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) gives states the option to implement a Basic Health Program (BHP) that covers low-income residents through state-contracting plans outside the health insurance marketplace, rather than qualified health plans (QHPs). In March 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final regulations on the requirements for a BHP and the methodology for calculating federal payments to states. States can choose to implement BHP beginning in 2015. This report summarizes these federal policies, including the requirements for BHP as well as the methodology for determining federal BHP payments. It then analyzes the key trade-offs facing states as they decide whether and, if so, how to implement BHP, with a particular focus on the impact of BHP on state budgets and the size, stability, and risk level of state marketplaces.

  • Key Findings on Medicaid Managed Care: Highlights from the Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker

    Report

    This report highlights 10 key findings on the Medicaid managed care market, based on analysis of data included in the Kaiser Family Foundation's Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker. The findings provide a partial profile of the Medicaid MCO market nationally and by state. They also illuminate the involvement of large, multi-state health insurance companies in the Medicaid market and the participation of these firms in other markets as well, including the managed long-term services and supports market, the new ACA marketplaces, and the Medicare Advantage market. Finally, these selected highlights serve to illustrate the array of ways the Tracker can be used to understand more about the Medicaid managed care market and its place in the broader market.

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: July 2014

    Feature

    The July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that over half the public has an unfavorable view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in July, up eight percentage points since last month, while the share viewing the law favorably held steady at just under four in ten. This month’s poll also explored the public’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision upholding craft store chain Hobby Lobby’s ability to deny workers coverage of certain contraceptives based on the company’s owners’ religious beliefs. The public overall is evenly split between those who approve and disapprove of the Court’s decision, with only a small difference in opinion between women and men, but deep divisions by party identification, ideology, and religious affiliation.

  • Donor Government Assistance for Family Planning in 2013

    Report

    This report finds that donor governments provided US$1.3 billion in bilateral funding for family planning programs in low and middle income countries in 2013 – a 19 percent increase from 2012. Donor governments also gave an additional $454 million in core contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the primary multilateral organization addressing family planning. Funding has risen since the London Summit on Family Planning in 2012, although most of the increase was driven by a small number of donors.

  • Kaiser Health Policy News Index: July 2014

    Feature

    The July Kaiser Health Policy News Index finds the most closely followed news stories this month were discussions about how to deal with large numbers of unaccompanied minors arriving in the U.S. from Central America, military and political conflict between Israel and Hamas, and ongoing problems related to Veterans Affairs (or V.A.) medical facilities. Six in ten report closely following the Supreme Court’s decision in a case about whether for-profit companies should be required to cover birth control for women in their workers’ health plans (the Hobby Lobby case), and about half of the public is able to correctly identify the Court’s decision.

  • How Much Is Enough? Out-of-Pocket Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries: A Chartbook

    Report

    This new analysis and chartbook examines out-of-pocket spending among Medicare beneficiaries, including spending on health and long-term care services and insurance premiums, using the most current year of data available from a nationally representative survey of people on Medicare. It explores which types of services account for a relatively large share of out-of-pocket spending, which groups of beneficiaries (including by age, gender, health status, and chronic conditions) are especially hard hit by high out-of-pocket costs, and trends in out-of-pocket spending between 2000 and 2010.

  • What Do We Know About Health Care Access and Quality in Medicare Advantage Versus the Traditional Medicare Program?

    Report

    As the number of Medicare Advantage enrollees continues to climb, there is growing interest in understanding how the care provided to Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans differs from the care received by beneficiaries in traditional Medicare. This literature review of more than 40 studies synthesizes the evidence to date comparing access and quality for beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans and traditional Medicare.

  • ACA Advertising in 2014 – Insurance and Political Ads

    Report

    This study analyzes the volume and content of political ads mentioning health care issues that aired in 2014 through Oct. 15, as well as health insurance spots promoting specific insurance products or encouraging enrollment in marketplace plans. It finds that about 14 percent of political ads in all races mention the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare or any of the law's specific provisions, mostly in a negative way.