This case study report examines the experience of Vermont's Choices for Care experiment in delivering long-term services, created through a five-year Medicaid waiver in 2005. The state has seen a shift of people and money toward community settings, but also the return of waiting lists for some populations.

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 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

This fact sheet provides an overview of Indiana's new Medicaid waiver program, the Healthy Indiana Plan, which is the first that allows a state to use Medicaid funds to provide a benefit package modeled after a high-deductible plan and health savings account to previously uninsured adults.  This piece examines key components of the plan and identifies key issues to consider.  

Gary Claxton, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president, testified about state-based health reform efforts as part of the Senate Finance Committee's Prepare For Launch Health Reform Summit. His testimony examines the role of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, as well as the way various federal laws and policies may limit innovation at the state level.

In 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to begin implementation of a plan to provide health care services to all uninsured residents. This fact sheet summarizes Healthy San Francisco, how it came to be, and key policy issues facing the program.

This fact sheet summarizes Vermont's health reform law designed to increase health care access and reduce costs.

Just prior to a key July 1 deadline, this Kaiser/Harvard/BCBSMA Foundation finds most Massachusetts residents support a new state law to provide health coverage to almost all residents, including the individual mandate that requires residents to obtain coverage or pay a penalty. The poll also suggests most are skeptical about the affordability of health coverage for families that are not eligible for subsidized coverage.

This issue brief offers a retrospective look at how care was provided to poor residents in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit.  It describes the structure of the public safety net and briefly discusses the challenges facing the system as it tries to rebuild.