State Info: Other Resources
New from Community Catalyst and Families USA
A Consumer Guide to State Health Reform: This online guide will help advocates design health coverage expansions that build upon the current system of public programs, employer-sponsored insurance, and private market options. Start by laying a strong foundation through Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance (CHIP) coverage, then by regulating the private insurance market, building subsidy programs and pooling mechanisms, ensuring adequate benefits and access to services, and finally, by finding sustainable funding.
From the Academy Health State Coverage Initiatives:
St@teside New State Updates provides fairly detailed updates on what states are doing to expand health coverage.
From the Alliance for Health Reform:
The group’s Web site features print and media resources about state efforts to expand coverage.
From the Center for Children and Families:
The new State Resource Center Web site provides resources and tools to assist in advancing health coverage for children and families.
From the Center for Policy Alternatives:
The State Action Blog features information about state action on a variety of issues, including health care reform.
From The Commonwealth Fund:
On the Road to Universal Coverage: Impacts of Reform in Massachusetts at One Year found that in the first year, the rate of the uninsured working-age adults in the state dropped by almost half, from 13 percent to 7 percent. In addition, the study found improvements in access to care, particularly among low-income adults, and fewer adults with high out-of-pocket costs and medical bill problems. (June 2008)
The State Health Policy Publications page of the group’s Web site offers a variety of publications related to state health policy and expansions, including a bimonthly report about recent advances in health policy at the state level.
Aiming Higher: Results from a State Scorecard on Health System Performance scores state health care systems on variables such as access, quality, efficiency, and performance. (June 2007)
State Strategies to Expand Health Insurance Coverage: Trends and Lessons for Policymakers presents an overview of state efforts to expand health coverage and highlights opportunities where federal policy can support state initiatives. (February 2007)
From Community Catalyst:
A Guide to Protecting Consumers under an Individual Mandate discusses the consumer protections that must be in place when implementing a requirement that all individuals obtain health insurance. (March 2008)
$12 Million Dollar Effort to Support Consumer Advocacy for Health Care Reform announces a joint project sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Community Catalyst to build a seamless advocacy movement to achieve health care reform. (June 2007)
Affordable Health Care for All: What Does Affordable Really Mean? presents a novel methodology for defining affordability in the context of health care and uses Massachusetts as a case study. (April 2007)
For more than a decade, significant aspects of health policy decisionmaking have been shifting from the federal government to the states. Consumer Health Advocacy: A View from 16 States reports the results of a national study that examined what kinds of political, economic, and
organizational factors are making consumer health advocacy successful in some states and extremely challenging in others. (October 2006)
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From Families USA:
Reinsurance: A Primer aims to help policymakers and advocates better understand what reinsurance is and how it can make coverage easier to obtain and more affordable. It also identifies some of the benefits of reinsurance to aid lawmakers as they design reinsurance programs to meet the needs of their states. (April 2008)
Expanding Health Coverage: What Would a Good State-Federal Partnership Bill Look Like? analyzes the three bills currently in Congress that would expand coverage by distributing grants to states that have proposed promising health care demonstration projects. We analyzed these bills according to a set of criteria we developed that are important for any good state-federal partnership bill to address. | Side-by-Side Comparison Chart (September 2007)
Confronting Disparities while Reforming Health Care: A Look at Massachusetts examines how state advocates were able to build on expansion efforts and address the host of issues that affect disparities in health and health care. It includes an extensive discussion of lessons that can be learned from the Massachusetts experience. (June 2007)
From Health Affairs:
Setting a Standard of Affordability for Health Insurance Coverage describes empirically based standards that can be used in states such as Massachusetts that require individuals to purchase insurance as long as it is “affordable.” (June 2007)
From Health Care for All:
A Healthy Blog features information about health care reform in Massachusetts, state efforts to expand coverage, and other general developments in health policy.
From the Herndon Alliance:
The Work to Date Web page of this national coalition includes a summary of polling data about health care concerns, as well as the presentation “How to Talk to Voters about Health Care” by Celinda Lake.
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Elements of State Health Reform webcasts, sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, features a series of webcasts that discuss common issues in the design and implementation of state health reform efforts.
Webcasts include “Covering Kids,” “Financing Mechanisms and Benefit Packages in Coverage Expansions,” and “Individual and Employer Requirements.” (May 2007)
Health Coverage for Children and Families: State Developments and Trends that Can Inform the Federal Coverage Debate is a briefing that discusses states’ efforts to expand coverage to children and families. (May 2007)
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From Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.:
The State Health Policy section of the group’s Web site provides tools, technical assistance, and information for state advocates and policy makers seeking to expand health coverage.
From the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP):
The Access for the Uninsured page of the group’s Web site offers a variety of publications that examine state initiatives to expand health coverage. Other sections of the NASHP Web site provide valuable information about expanding public programs and improving access to care for special populations. (June 2007)
From the National Women's Law Center:
The Comprehensive & Affordable Health Care resource center provides reports and issue briefs about women's health issues in the reform process.
From The Opportunity Agenda:
The Health Equity articles on the group’s Web site could be useful to states working to address health disparities as they expand coverage.
From The Opportunity Agenda and Families USA:
Universal and Equal: Ensuring Equity in State Health Care Reform States across the country are looking for ways to expand affordable, quality health coverage to more people, but few states have focused specifically on the problem of inequality in health care. This piece presents strategies advocates can use to integrate health equity into larger health reform efforts, as well as a checklist they can use to evaluate their states' proposed expansions. From The Opportunity Agenda and Families USA (January 2008)
From The Opportunity Agenda, Families USA, and The Commonwealth Fund:
Identifying and Evaluating Equity Provisions in State Health Care Reform explores how states can increase health equity by expanding health coverage and addressing issues of access to care, quality of care, social determinants of health, and infrastructure reforms. The report also evaluates existing health equity laws, regulations, and reform proposals in five states. (April 2008)
From State Coverage Initiatives:
The State Coverage Initiatives Web site provides resources that states can use to improve access to health coverage. Featured resources include grants, technical assistance, workshops, and information about what states have already done to improve coverage.
The State Coverage Matrix provides information about specific strategies that states have used to expand coverage. Examples of these strategies include expansion of public programs, reinsurance, and high-risk pools.
The State of the States report highlights state initiatives from across the country that are designed to reform health care. (January 2008)
Health Insurance Connectors & Exchanges: A Primer for State Officials examines a crucial component of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law known as “the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority,” or simply, “The Connector.” The Connector is presented as a prototype that other states can adapt when seeking to expand health coverage, depending on the specific characteristics in those states. (September 2007)
From The National Conference of State Legislators:
The 2007 Bills on Universal Healthcare Coverage Web page provides a summary of universal coverage bills proposed in several states as of 2007, as well as information about pending state legislative action on these bills.
2007 Comprehensive Health Care Reforms: Side-by-Side Comparisons is a Web page that examines state proposals to expand health coverage. The comparisons focus on proposals that address market reforms, subsidized health insurance, employer assessments, wellness initiatives, disease management, quality initiatives, and Medicaid expansions.
The 2006-2007 Fair Share Health Care Fund or "Pay or Play" Bills Web page provides a summary of pay or play bills proposed in several states, as well as information about pending state legislative action on these bills. Pay or play bills, which are designed to expand health coverage, require employers to either “play” by providing health care benefits to their employees or “pay” by paying money into a state health plan that would cover their employees.
From Rutgers Center for State Health Policy:
The Informing Health Insurance Policy in New Jersey Web page lists reports that were prepared for New Jersey but that also contain data about other states and policy recommendations that may be relevant to other states.
From the Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN):
UHCAN"s state matrix includes information on single payer bills in addition to other health reform legislation. UHCAN provides links to bills that expand coverage to all and bills that expand coverage to direct care workers.
From the Urban Institute:
Roadmap to Coverage: Synthesis of Findings presents policy options to expand health coverage in Massachusetts. These principles may also be helpful for other states that are considering expansions.
From the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Appeals Court Says San Francisco's Pay or Play Law Can Go into Effect (December 26, 2007)
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