Health Insurance

This brief examines the characteristics of the children who were eligible for Medicaid/CHIP in 2007. The results show that while participation rates were high in both Medicaid and CHIP, some 5 million remained uninsured despite being eligible for coverage. Participation rates, which were found to vary across areas, have likely increased given recent declines in the number of uninsured children. The brief also shows that while interest in public coverage is high among low-income parents, many do not know not know that their child is eligible for Medicaid/CHIP, do not know how to apply, and/or find the application process difficult.

This report uses the 2005 Kaiser Low-Income Coverage and Access Survey to examine low-income parents' perceptions of access and quality of care for the uninsured. The findings indicate that most low-income parents perceive that the uninsured do not have access to affordable medical and dental care and that the quality of care they receive is lower than for the insured. Low-income parents also have generally positive perceptions of Medicaid, indicating that efforts to increase eligibility and enrollment in Medicaid such as those included in current health care reform proposals would reduce uninsurance among this population.

In this special presentation, the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for health, the Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham, M.P., will argue that now is the time for England and America to share much-needed perspective and knowledge and to bust a medical myth or two.

This report synthesizes findings from case studies conducted in 2001 and 2002 in ten states selected for the Congressionally Mandated Evaluation of SCHIP: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas (Hill et al. 2002). Discussion addresses such issues as program design, outreach and enrollment strategies, benefits, service delivery systems, cost sharing, crowd out prevention, parental coverage, financing, and coordination of SCHIP and Medicaid. Overarching conclusions identify lessons learned from effective implementation.

This paper examines various reasons for the growth in Medicaid spending in the current decade. Although Medicaid spending has grown faster than the rate of increase in national health spending, much of this is explained by increased enrollment. Per enrollee, Medicaid spending actually compares favorably to increases in medical care prices and gross domestic product. The relative success in Medicaid cost containment seems to be attributable to limits on provider payment rates, expansion of managed care, limits on the use and pricing of prescription drugs, and expansion of community-based long-term care programs. We suggest two strategies for further cost containment.