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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.
A summary of Latino experiences and opinions regarding access to health care in the District of Columbia, this brief also contrasts the experiences of Latinos in the District of Columbia with those of Latinos nationally. Report (.pdf)
Beginning in 2014, state-based health insurance exchanges will be created to facilitate coverage and choice, with the hope that enhanced competition among insurers will help to moderate premiums for individuals and small groups. This analysis by the Foundation assesses the competitiveness of state insurance markets for individuals and small businesses to establish a baseline as implementation of the health reform law proceeds and to provide context for the policy decisions states will be considering. The…
The Kaiser Family Foundation maintains a number of primers providing overviews of key health care programs and issues. Written by Foundation staff, each primer provides key data and information that helps illustrate the topic and its relevance for the nation's health care system. Medicaid: A Primer Medicare: A Primer The Uninsured: A Primer Health Care Costs: A Primer How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer Mental Health Financing in the United States: A Primer The…
On Dec. 3, 2009, Diane Rowland, the Foundation Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, delivered this testimony on the post-Katrina recovery efforts to restore health care to the New Orleans area before the U.S.House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Testimony (.pdf)
The Women's Health Care Chartbook presents findings from a national survey of women ages 18 to 64 and provides a look at the experience of women in the health care system. The chartbook includes data on insurance coverage, affordability of and access to care, use of health care services, prevention, and family health.
For as long as I have been in the field, we have seen cycles in health care costs. Per capita health spending would rise, then moderate, then rise gain. My colleague Larry Levitt and I documented this in The Sad History of Health Care Costs and my friend Dr. Jim Mongan called it “the peaks and valleys” of health care costs. We have never been sure whether the "valleys" were the result of government actions, such…
In June, 1999, the Supreme Court rule in Olmstead v L.C. that states were required to provide services to persons with disabilities in community settings rather than institutions, if certain conditions were met. This Policy Brief provides an overview of the Olmstead case, including the facts, the court ruling, and the disposition of the case. In addition, the brief describes the issues surrounding implementation and the implications this ruling could have for state Medicaid programs.…
A study of California, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, and Utah CHIP programs show that the states have features in place for special needs children, but problems of provider availability and service authorization did sometimes occur. This is the first in a series of reports on implementation issues and challenges in the first year of CHIP. ISSUE BRIEF Download
Analyses of the Child Health Plan and Other Kaiser Permanente Services for Publicly and Privately Insured Children, a new policy brief prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation by the Institute for Health Policy Studies at U.C. San Francisco, summarizes the results and policy implications of four different analyses comparing the experiences of children enrolled through Kaiser Permanente in the Child Health Plan, Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and commercial programs. The aggregate…
This report analyzes recently enacted laws in Texas and Missouri that expand consumers' ability to sue their HMOs or other managed care plans for inappropriately denied care or similar problems. Report Report
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