Medicaid/SCHIP - Health Policy, Public Opinion & Research

Sort Documents by:

Document Type:

Date Range:

Health Coverage in an Economic Downturn: Impact of Tight Budgets for Families and States
The economic downturn has strained family finances and led some Americans to cut back on medical care. The Foundation has a number of resources that shed light on how Americans and states are faring and provide background on the uninsured, employer-sponsored health insurance costs and trends in states’ Medicaid enrollment and spending.

New Analysis Shows Effect of Rising Unemployment on Health Coverage, Medicaid and SCHIP Spending and Enrollment
Every one percentage point rise in the unemployment rate leads to a 1.1 million increase in the uninsured population and a one million increase in Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment, according to a new Kaiser analysis. Another report analyzes the history of Medicaid during recent economic downturns.

Recent Documents: (863 results)

Pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 >>

State Fiscal Conditions & Medicaid -- November 2008

This fact sheet examines how an economic downturn increases state Medicaid program enrollment and costs at the same time that states face new budget constraints, as well as possible policy responses.

States Moving Towards Comprehensive Health Care Reform -- November 2008

With the problem of the uninsured continuing to grow, states have taken the lead in developing proposals to reform of their health care systems with the goal of significantly increasing the number of people with health coverage. An interactive map and related summaries of plans track which states have enacted or are planning comprehensive initiatives to cover their uninsured population.

Health Coverage in an Economic Downturn: Impact of Tight Budgets on Families and States -- November 2008
The economic downturn has strained family finances and led some Americans to cut back on medications and medical care. The Foundation has a number of resources that shed light on how Americans and states are faring and provide background on the uninsured, employer-sponsored health insurance costs, trends in states’ Medicaid enrollment and spending and prior efforts to support the Medicaid program during a slumping economy.

Low-Income Adults in New Orleans in 2008: Who Are They and How Are They Faring? -- October 2008
Based on data from Kaiser's Second Post-Katrina Survey, this Survey Brief finds that New Orleans continues to have a sizeable population of low-income adults in 2008, and that these adults are more likely than other adults in the city to still be dealing with recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and financial and health care challenges.

Health Affairs Article: Florida's Medicaid Reform: Informed Consumer Choice? -- October 2008

Based on the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2006-2007 Survey of Florida Medicaid Beneficiaries, this Health Affairs article finds that many enrollees in the state's reform program lacked key information about their Medicaid changes, leading to reporting difficulties choosing a health plan.

Florida Medicaid Reform Waiver: Early Findings and Current Status -- October 2008

Florida Medicaid Reform Waiver: Early Findings and Current Status

Headed for a Crunch: An Update on Medicaid Spending, Coverage and Policy Heading into an Economic Downturn -- September 2008

This eighth annual 50-state survey on Medicaid and state budget actions finds enrollment began to rise in fiscal year 2008 with states expecting even larger increases for fiscal year 2009. With the increased enrollment, Medicaid spending is also rising more rapidly than in the recent past.

Health Care and Long-Term Care Policy: Concerns Facing Older Women -- September 2008

This tutorial discusses health care coverage and cost challenges for older women.

Dental Coverage and Care for Low-Income Children: The Role of Medicaid and SCHIP -- July 2008

This fact sheet provides an overview of dental care access and coverage for low-income children.

New Reports and Briefing Focus on Dental Health Coverage and Access -- July 2008

Three new reports about dental health coverage and access for the nation's low-income population were released by the Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured at a Capitol Hill briefing examining these issues.

This fact sheet examines how an economic downturn increases state Medicaid program enrollment and costs at the same time that states face new budget constraints, as well as possible policy responses.

The economic downturn has strained family finances and led some Americans to cut back on medications and medical care. The Foundation has a number of resources that shed light on how Americans and states are faring and provide background on the uninsured, employer-sponsored health insurance costs, trends in states’ Medicaid enrollment and spending and prior efforts to support the Medicaid program during a slumping economy.

Based on data from Kaiser's Second Post-Katrina Survey, this Survey Brief finds that New Orleans continues to have a sizeable population of low-income adults in 2008, and that these adults are more likely than other adults in the city to still be dealing with recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and financial and health care challenges.

Florida Medicaid Reform Waiver: Early Findings and Current Status

This tutorial discusses health care coverage and cost challenges for older women.

This fact sheet provides an overview of dental care access and coverage for low-income children.

View all items >

Pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 >>

Medicaid/SCHIP

Medicaid is the nation's public health insurance program for low-income Americans, financing health and long term care services for more than 55 million individuals. The program provides access to affordable and comprehensive health care for children and adults in low-income working families and for the elderly and disabled who often rely on the program to fill in critical gaps in their Medicare coverage. Although three quarters of Medicaid's enrollees are adults or children, the elderly and disabled account for 70% of the program's expenditures. Financed and operated jointly by the states and federal government, Medicaid accounts for roughly one sixth of the nation’s health care spending and almost half of all spending on long term care. As the largest source of federal support to the states, Medicaid is also a major engine in state economies, supporting millions of jobs across the country. Its guarantee of open-ended federal financing that matches state spending enables states to respond to losses of private health insurance attributable to unemployment and rising health insurance premiums, increases in health care costs, emergencies and disasters, and an aging society.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was enacted in 1997 to provide a capped amount of federal matching funds to states for coverage of children and some parents with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but for whom private health insurance was either unavailable or unaffordable. Covering roughly four million children, SCHIP has played an important role in reducing the number of uninsured children in America.

This section provides data and information on the Medicaid and SCHIP programs with a focus on the populations they serve. Analyses of proposals to restructure these programs, data from surveys, studies of the impact of recent programmatic changes on beneficiaries, and basic information on how the programs operate and are administered can all be found here. These materials can help to inform discussions of reform proposals and efforts to improve and maintain health coverage and financing for the low-income disabled and elderly populations, families, and children who are left out of our country’s fragmented, employer-based health care system.

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured is the main source for the Foundation's work related to the Medicaid and SCHIP programs. Begun in 1991, the Commission is the largest operating program of Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and has brought increased analysis and attention to health coverage issues facing the low-income population for over a decade. Through its reports and briefings, the Commission continues to provide up-to-date information on Medicaid and SCHIP and assesses options for reform.