New on the Web 63 (December 2009)
From the Center for American Progress: “Equal Health Care for All: Opportunities to Address Health Care Disparities in Health Care Reform”
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: “Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services Programs: Data Update”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care among Children: How Does Medicaid Do in Closing the Gaps?,” “Health Reform and Communities of Color: How Might It Affect Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities?,” “Is the Health Care System Ready for Health Reform?”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation and George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health and Health Services: “State Medicaid Coverage of Family Planning Services: Summary of State Survey Findings”
From the National Academy for State Health Policy: “A State Policymaker’s Guide to Federal Health Reform”
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the State Health Access Data Assistance Center: “The Secrets of Massachusetts’s Success: Why 97 Percent of State Residents Have Health Coverage”
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute: “Progress Enrolling Children in Medicaid/CHIP: Who Is Left and What Are the Prospects for Covering More Children?”
From the Center for American Progress
Equal Health Care for All: Opportunities to Address Health Care Disparities in Health Care Reform looks at disparities in health care access and quality, based on factors such as race and ethnicity, and analyzes the initiatives in the current federal health reform proposals that will address these factors and help eliminate such disparities. (December 2009)
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Programs: Data Update discusses the development of home- and community-based service (HCBS) alternatives to institutional care in state Medicaid programs. While the majority of funding for long-term care in Medicaid still goes toward institutional care, the percentage of total Medicaid spending on HCBS has more than doubled in the past 15 years. (November 2009)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care among Children: How Does Medicaid Do in Closing the Gaps? examines how disparities among children in Medicaid compare with those among privately insured and uninsured children. The findings reveal that disparities in Medicaid were similar to those in the private insurance market, and although the majority of children fare well in terms of access, problems still persist for children trying to get access to the health care they need. (December 2009)
Health Reform and Communities of Color: How Might It Affect Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities? argues that the economic costs associated with health disparities affect the entire health care system, and reducing them should be a major goal of health reform. Provisions that would expand coverage, such as the employer mandate and a Medicaid expansion, are likely to help decrease health disparities, given that minorities make up a large portion of the uninsured. (November 2009)
Is the Health Care System Ready for Health Reform? is a webcast that examines how the system will handle newly eligible individuals after the enactment of health reform. It also discusses how health reform will affect people living in underserved areas, specifically people of color, and the issues they continue to face in terms of getting access to needed care. (November 2009)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation and George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health and Health Services
State Medicaid Coverage of Family Planning Services: Summary of State Survey Findings reports that there is great variation from state to state in what is covered under their family planning benefits. Some benefits include vaccinations, contraception, and screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and cancer, in addition to services that enable women to prevent unintended pregnancies, space pregnancies, and plan their family size. (November 2009)
From the National Academy for State Health Policy:
A State Policymaker’s Guide to Federal Health Reform emphasizes the importance of states’ roles in implementing national health reform and provides information to state policymakers on how best to approach implementing reform policies. The three-part guide includes the following pieces. (November 2009)
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the State Health Access Data Assistance Center
The Secrets of Massachusetts’s Success: Why 97 Percent of State Residents Have Health Coverage uses interviews with policy makers, stakeholders, advocates, and others to examine how individual elements have contributed to the success of Massachusetts’s health reform legislation. Simplifying and integrating eligibility procedures across multiple programs has played a central role in reducing the number of low-income uninsured. (November 2009)
From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute
Progress Enrolling Children in Medicaid/CHIP: Who Is Left and What Are the Prospects for Covering More Children? notes that improving enrollment and retention processes and tailoring outreach strategies to uninsured children and their communities are crucial. The Medicaid expansion under health reform will also help increase enrollment, but continuing existing efforts will be key to preventing gaps in coverage. (November 2009)
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