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This was published as a Wall Street Journal Think Tank column on Jul7 27, 2015. Many Americans are skeptical about foreign aid because they believe a large share of U.S. assistance is lost to corruption. When it comes to global health, as the chart above shows, 83% of Americans say corruption and misuse of funds is a barrier to improving health in developing nations, and 43% say it is the most important barrier. Corruption is a problem. World…
A new Kaiser Family Foundation report finds that donor governments provided US$1.3 billion in bilateral funding for family planning programs in low- and middle-income countries in 2015, essentially matching 2014 levels in real terms (after accounting for exchange rate fluctuations and inflation). In current U.S. dollars, however, 2015 funding was 6 percent below the 2014 level, largely due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar.
As the U.S. enters a Presidential election year and the larger global health and development landscape changes, U.S. global health programs face a key moment of transition. The prior decade saw unprecedented attention to and funding for global health by the U.S. government. Although funding has flattened in recent years, global health has generally enjoyed significant bipartisan support in Congress and the Administration, at a level not seen in most other non-entitlement or discretionary spending…
President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget request would cut global health programs by approximately $2.5 billion. This analysis models the potential impact of the Administration’s proposed budget, as well as two budget scenarios with more modest decreases.
Under a per capita cap, per enrollee spending would be capped, but the total amount of federal dollars to states could vary with enrollment changes and states would not be able to impose enrollment caps. Faced with restrictions in federal financing, states would have to make hard choices. This brief outlines the key measures states could use to manage their budgets and the associated challenges under a per capita cap: raise taxes or make other…
The American Health Care Act recently passed by the House of Representatives includes a provision to ban federal Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood. The Trump administration has also proposed reducing funding to HHS, which funds the Title X family planning program and community health centers. A new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation assesses the role of these programs in providing family planning care services to low-income women as well as the potential impact of…
Insurer financial data through the first quarter of 2017 suggest the individual market has been stabilizing and insurers in this market are regaining profitability, finds a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The analysis tracks insurer financial performance, starting before the launch of Affordable Care Act marketplaces, through two indicators: Medical loss ratios (the share of health premiums paid out as claims) and average gross margin per member per month (the average amount by which…
This brief provides national and state-by-state estimates of the reductions in federal spending under the Better Care Reconciliation Act for the period 2020-2029 and for 2029 in order to see the full effect of policy changes over a ten-year period.
Congressional debate around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has recently included a proposal to repeal the ACA, including the provision allowing states to extend Medicaid to childless adults up to 138% FPL and providing enhanced federal funds for the Medicaid expansion. This brief provides estimates of changes in federal Medicaid funds and Medicaid coverage for adults covered through the ACA expansion if the expansion is eliminated starting in 2020. A repeal of the Medicaid expansion…
The Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) under consideration in Congress includes provisions that would fundamentally change Medicaid by phasing out extra federal funding for states’ Medicaid expansions and for the first time limiting federal spending on Medicaid through a per enrollee cap on financing or a block grant for certain adults. While those measures account for most of the bill’s $756 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade, there are other big…
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