Briefs & Reports

This issue brief identifies, analyzes and compares provisions that explicitly address the health and health care needs of racial and ethnic minorities in the two Congressional health care reform proposals passed by Congress prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.

Medi-Cal’s pharmacy benefit is the most frequently used Medi-Cal benefit and is the fastest growing portion of the Medi-Cal budget. It is also of critical importance to elderly Medi-Cal beneficiaries. This analysis summarizes the benefit, its costs and financing, who uses it, and key policy implications.

This study highlights how city, county, and state health departments have fared in the economic downturn, and how they have responded to serious budget cuts. It also makes recommendations for new approaches to financing.

One of the main goals of health reform is to increase access to health care. Frequently overlooked in this effort is finding effective and efficient mechanisms for determining eligibility and enrolling those who are eligible for existing public programs, primarily Medicaid and the the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). How can recruitment and enrollment be … Read More

A discussion with Jack Meyer and other HMA experts of key policy and implementation issues posed by the health reform legislation being developed in Congress. At the time of this discussion, the broad parameters of likely reforms are becoming clearer, but the passage of a bill would be just the beginning of the health care … Read More

As a companion to The Commonwealth FundÍs 2009 State Scorecard on Health System Performance, this report profiles seven states,VT, HI, IA, MN, MA, WI, and DE, that have achieved and sustained high levels of health system performance. These states provide useful examples of state policies and practices that may be reasonably associated with health system … Read More

Over the past 15 years, California gained extensive experience in designing and operating a health insurance exchange, an effort that ultimately proved unsustainable. Drawing on interviews with individuals who played key roles in the California exchange, this analysis explores the problems faced by the California experiences and analyzes how a national exchange could be designed … Read More

This paper presents a range of options on different paths the state of California could take in a request to the federal government to extend its 1115 Medicaid Demonstration Waiver. It is intended to be used as the beginning of a process with the State and stakeholders to discuss waiver options, rather than presenting recommendations.

This snapshot uses data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to document the extent to which uninsured and insured Californians use the emergency department for preventable dental conditions such as untreated cavities, dental abscesses, and periodontal disease. The report concludes with recommendations for developing a more comprehensive dental safety net, … Read More

In a new section of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website, Jack Meyer and Elliot Wicks reintroduce the Covering America project in a new essay with the hope that it will provide some timely guidance in the struggle to find a political consensus around a plan to cover the uninsured. Covering America produced 17 papers … Read More