New on the Web 18: March 2003
We've collected information on several new reports and other resources available on the Web that we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Descriptions and links appear below.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: "Introduction to the Federal Budget"
Commonwealth Fund: "Hispanic Patients' Double Burden: Lack of Health Insurance and Limited English"
Community Catalyst: "The Color of Medicine: Strategies for Increasing Diversity in the U.S. Physician Workforce"
Consumers Union and the Kaiser Family Foundation: "A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan, 2003 Update"
Health Affairs: "How Much Medical Care Do the Uninsured Use, and Who Pays for It?"
Institute of Medicine: "A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance"
Kaiser Family Foundation: "Compendium of Cultural Competence Initiatives in Health Care," "From Concept to Operation: A Guide to Developing Assistance Programs for Health Care Consumers"
Public Citizen: "Medicare Privatization: Bad for Seniors and People with Disabilities"
Urban Institute: "Prescribing the Best Medicare Drug Prices"
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Introduction to the Federal Budget explains the basics of the annual federal budget process and how that process affects the development of tax and spending legislation. It covers the President's budget request; the congressional budget resolution; how the terms of the budget resolution--and the limits it sets on spending and tax cuts--are enforced on the House and Senate floor; and budget reconciliation, a special procedure used in some years to facilitate the passage of spending and tax legislation. (March 2003)
From The Commonwealth Fund:
Hispanic Patients' Double Burden: Lack of Health Insurance and Limited English discusses the high uninsured rates found among Hispanics and the resulting difficulties encountered in gaining access to care. It reports that Hispanics who speak primarily Spanish are in poorer health, are less likely to have a regular doctor, and are more likely to lack insurance and rely on public or community clinics for their health care when compared with Hispanics who speak primarily English, whites, and African Americans. (February 2003)
From Community Catalyst:
The Color of Medicine: Strategies for Increasing Diversity in the U.S. Physician Workforce points out that one compelling reason the scarcity of physicians of color is of national concern is that there is growing evidence it has an impact on health care access and quality. The authors maintain that increasing the numbers of African American, Latino, and Native American physicians will help improve access to care, with the longer-term benefit of improving minority health status. The report examines all aspects of the medical education process and some of its barriers, and it includes a section assessing potential strategies to improve the current situation. (April 2002)
From Consumers Union and the Kaiser Family Foundation
A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan, 2003 Update was created to help consumers who are seeking ways to resolve disputes with their health plans or better understand their coverage. The guide will help consumers navigate their plan's internal claims review process, as well as their state's external review process. It also provides consumers with state-specific guidelines and other practical information. (January 2003)
From Health Affairs:
How Much Medical Care Do the Uninsured Use, and Who Pays for It? seeks to determine the resources that are already in the medical care system and potentially available to help pay for expanded insurance coverage, because knowing the existing sources of payment for care can help policymakers identify where some of the money for new coverage could come from. this analysis demonstrates that uninsured Americans received about $35 billion in uncompensated health care in 2001, with federal, state, and local governments covering as much as 85 percent of it. The authors conclude that a substantial amount of public money from existing programs is potentially available for a program to expand health coverage. (February 2003)
From the Institute of Medicine:
A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance, the fourth in a series of reports on the consequences of uninsurance, explores the ways in which those who do have health coverage are affected by those who don't. The authors document a series of spillover effects of uninsurance on community health care institutions, providers, and others and assess the limited empirical evidence that exists about community effects. Among the authors' findings is that, in communities with higher uninsured rates, access to health care services and consequent benefits are compromised even for people with health coverage. (2003)
From The Kaiser Family Foundation:
Compendium of Cultural Competence Initiatives in Health Care pulls together descriptions of the work of all of the public and private sector organizations that are involved in activities that seek to reduce cultural and communication barriers to health care. This collection aims to assist in the effort to pursue several of these techniques as part of a strategy to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in medical care. The initiatives included run from 1990 to the present and covert both public and private sector programs. (January 2003)
From Concept to Operation: A Guide to Developing Assistance Programs for Health Care Consumers, based on the Health Rights Hotline of Sacramento, California, provides a framework and specific steps that organizations may take to set up a consumer assistance program. Topics covered include program design, staffing and training, outreach, collecting and analyzing data, program evaluation, and financing. (January 2003)
From Public Citizen:
Medicare Privatization: Bad for Seniors and People with Disabilities includes new information on the Bush Administration's PPO demonstration program (an attempt to introduce a new type of managed care plan into Medicare) and on HMO premiums and rug benefits for 2003. The report concludes that relying more heavily on private plans is not the approach to Medicare reform that is in the best interests of beneficiaries, nor is it what beneficiaries desire. Instead, the report recommends that the existing Medicare program be expanded to include prescription drug coverage. (February 2003)
From the Urban Institute:
Prescribing the Best Medicare Drug Prices, available as a web cast and transcript, examines one of the most pressing and expensive domestic issues - a prescription drug benefit for Medicare Beneficiaries. In this discussion, leading experts discussed the pros and cons of securing the best prescription prices through the private market, pharmacy benefit managers, and government negotiation. (March 4, 2003)
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