Medicaid “Mandatory” and “Optional” Eligibility and Benefits
This brief describes the current structure of the Medicaid program and provides information on coverage and spending by mandatory and optional groups.
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State Health Facts is a KFF project that provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States. It offers data on specific types of health insurance coverage, including employer-sponsored, Medicaid, Medicare, as well as people who are uninsured by demographic characteristics, including age, race/ethnicity, work status, gender, and income. There are also data on health insurance status for a state's population overall and broken down by age, gender, and income.
This brief describes the current structure of the Medicaid program and provides information on coverage and spending by mandatory and optional groups.
This issue brief describes and analyzes expansions of Medicaid and SCHIP, tax credits for individually-purchased insurance, and tax credits for employment-based health insurance as options to expand health coverage of the low-income population. Issue Paper
The third in a series of reports on implementation issues and challenges in the first year of S-CHIP finds that non-Medicaid S-CHIP programs faced more administrative challenges. Success with enrollment appeared primarily related to administrative decisions, including a lower band of S-CHIP income eligibility, and the lack of premiums. REPORT Download
An analysis of the National Governors Association proposal to restructure Medicaid, including the financial impact of the core of the proposal. The report considers possible responses to the reforms and outlines some issues to consider as policymakers think about reforming the program.
The fourth in a series of reports on implementation issues and challenges in the first year of S-CHIP finds that states have been able to enter arrangements with plans for their S-CHIP population fairly easily. REPORT Download
This report documents the findings of a study examining access to health insurance coverage in the individual market for people with health problems. Seven hypothetical consumers with varying health conditions were defined and insurers and HMOs in eight different markets around the country were asked to consider them as though they were real consumers applying for coverage. Renewed debate over proposals to expand coverage for the uninsured using tax credits for the purchase of individual…
A new chart book examines Fiscal Year 2002 budget proposals by President Bush and Congress, focusing on their impact on health programs. It provides both an examination of how health care programs fit into the overall U.S. budget and a review of past budget trends and future projections for government health care programs. Chartbook
This report, written by Marilyn Moon and Matthew Storeygard of the Urban Institute, estimates the potential cost of targeting drug benefits to low-income Medicare beneficiaries and those with catastrophic drug expenses and discusses some of the key programmatic issues that could arise under this approach. The authors predict that a targeted and comprehensive drug benefit would likely help more than half of the 11.3 million low-income beneficiaries who lack drug coverage through Medicaid or an…
This issue brief, prepared by Linda Blumberg and Len Nichols of the Urban Institute, examines the factors contributing to the disproportionately high rates of uninsurance among California's workers compared to the U.S. The report looks at differences in coverage by race and ethnicity, and by citizenship status, and also examines offer and take-up rates for employer health insurance among California's workers. Issue Brief
Federal and state policymakers face a major challenge in addressing the health needs of an increasingly diverse population. That challenge can be even greater in the growing number of cities and states with large immigrant communities. In a Commission-sponsored conference call on May 15, experts on immigrant health issues discussed recent findings about how the health system is and is not working for immigrants and their potential policy implications. Audio from the conference call is…
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