Most Americans Believe Chronic Illnesses Usually Result from Circumstances Beyond a Person’s Control
Source KFF Health Tracking Poll…
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To understand more about how people view the issue of loneliness and social isolation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with The Economist, conducted a cross-country survey of adults in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The survey included additional interviews with individuals who report always or often feeling lonely, left out, isolated or that they lack companionship to better understand the personal characteristics and life circumstances associated with these feelings, the reported causes of loneliness, and how people are coping. More than a fifth of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as one in ten adults in Japan say they often or always feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out, or feel isolated from others, and many of them say their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects of their life. About six in ten say there is a specific cause of their loneliness, and they are also more likely to report experiencing negative life events in the past two years, such as a negative change in financial status. Those reporting loneliness in each country report having fewer confidants than others and two-thirds or more say they have just a few or no relatives or friends living nearby who they can rely on for support. Many in the U.S. and U.K. view the increased use of technology as a major reason why people are lonely or socially isolated, whereas fewer people in Japan say the same. But, for those experiencing loneliness or social isolation personally, they are divided as to whether they think social media makes their feelings of loneliness better or worse.
This brief outlines Medicaid's role for Medicare beneficiaries. It describes the role that Medicaid plays for 10 million Medicare beneficiaries to help inform upcoming debates about proposals to restructure Medicaid financing in ways that could reduce federal funding.
This brief provides an overview of the Medicaid Incentives for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (MIPCD) grants and highlights key findings from the interim evaluation of the program. The brief also places these grants in context of pre-Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid beneficiary incentive programs and proposed programs of states that are incorporating healthy behavior incentives into Medicaid expansion waivers.
If the Court rules in favor of Braidwood, private health insurers would no longer be required to cover, without cost sharing, certain preventive services recommended by USPTF after 2010 when the ACA was enacted.
This analysis finds that Medicaid’s role in financing diabetes care will grow when many low-income uninsured people with diabetes become eligible for Medicaid as the program expansions under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains how a recent Bureau of Economic Analysis report makes the nation’s health care spending more tangible by breaking it down by disease.
The question of what would happen when a new, expensive prescription drug comes to market for a disease like Alzheimer’s that afflicts millions of people has loomed large in discussions over drug prices in the U.S. This brief analyzes the cost implications for Medicare and beneficiaries associated with Biogen's new FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug, which will cost $56,000 per year.
Diabetes and obesity have evolved from a national public health concern to a problem of epidemic proportions — a very costly problem. The direct medical costs and the indirect costs of diabetes are estimated at $174 billion yearly.
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