On the Road to Adulthood

Many young people in the District of Columbia lack a high school or college diploma and are ill-prepared for a labor market that demands highly skilled workers. In response to this crisis, the District government launched a reform effort in 2007 that promises to reinvent public schools and halt the years of poor performance that have plagued the city's education system. But school reform alone cannot address all of the complicated social, emotional, and economic conditions holding back the city's youth. Families, nonprofit organizations, and District agencies must all be committed partners in helping young people succeed.

Caring for Our Parents: Should Long-Term Care be Part of Health Reform?

As many as 10 million older Americans and younger adults with disabilities require long-term care, either at home or in nursing facilities. The United States spends more than $200 billion annually for such care. However, our system for financing this assistance-principally Medicaid and family assets, with a small share funded through private insurance—may be untenable as baby boomers age. TPC's Howard Gleckman looks at the way we deliver and pay for these services in a new book, Caring for Our Parents: Inspiring Stories of Families Seeking New Solutions to America's Most Urgent Health Crisis. He and a panel of top policy experts will discuss how—or whether—long-term care should be included in health reform legislation.

A New Safety Net for Working Families: Unemployment Compensation - A Lifeline in Tough Times

Unemployment insurance (UI) helps millions of out-of-work Americans provide for themselves and their families. An automatic stabilizer, it can also help to maintain consumption when the economy is in a downturn. Today's prolonged and severe recession is putting unemployment insurance to the test, especially its ability to aid low-income families, who are unlikely to have savings that could see them through these tough times.

Thursday's Child: Health, Education, and Child Welfare: Measuring Outcomes across Systems

On the horizon is a push to monitor outcomes for children and youth across the systems that serve them, including education, child welfare, and healthcare. With healthcare reforms and changes to the No Child Left Behind Act looming, and as state child welfare agencies strive to comply with federal requirements, ideas and insights about performance measurement are especially timely.

First Tuesday: Is There a Fair Way to Cap the Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance?

Health reform - the "let’s do lunch" of public policy - is on everyone's lips in Washington. But like many long-postponed, obligatory meals, who is going to pick up the check? Capping the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) - an idea loved and loathed by politicians from both parties - is on the table to pay for subsidies for the uninsured and to moderate companies’ incentives to offer high-end coverage.

Health Reform: The Cost of Failure

If federal health reform efforts are not enacted, a forthcoming Urban Institute study finds, more than 60 million Americans could be uninsured within 10 years as insurance premiums increase to unsustainable levels for individuals, families, and businesses. As a result, private coverage will fall, enrollment in public programs will increase, and the number of uninsured will rise. Middle-income families will be the hardest hit. The analysis, prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, uses three economic scenarios, each of which shows mounting strains on business owners and their employees over the next decade. Individual and family spending on premiums and out-of-pocket costs would increase significantly. In addition, spending on public programs would jump and costs for uncompensated care would grow.