Safety Net
States Experiment With CHIP Outreach Methods
Since Congress created the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997, states have been trying to provide health insurance to kids whose parents earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance. It has not been easy. Of the estimated 11 million children without health insurance in the United […]
Maine’s Approach To Prescription Drugs Draws National Attention
Legislators in 20 states have announced efforts to lower prescription drug prices in present and upcoming legislative sessions. Joined by labor leaders and senior citizen activists, legislators announced plans to model their efforts after a law passed in Maine five weeks ago that established the nation’s first program where the state negotiates prescription drug prices […]
Americans Concerned About Link Between Health And Environment: Survey
A survey released Sunday shows that Americans believe the government should be monitoring chronic diseases and their links to environmental hazards. The survey was released by Health-Track, a national public health organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. When asked what priority the government should give to reducing illnesses that may be caused by environmental […]
States Consider Covering Parents Under CHIP Program
In the budget he unveiled Last month, President Clinton proposed spending $76 billion over 10 years to provide health care benefits to approximately 4 million of the nation’s estimated 44 million uninsured citizens. He wants to allow matching grants to cover uninsured parents of children eligible for states’ Children’s Health Insurance Programs, or CHIP. CHIP […]
States Scrambling To Help Elderly With RX Costs
The race is on to help the elderly with prescription drug costs. President Clinton, Congress and most state legislatures are competing for the political credit. “A larger-than-ever number of states are interested in looking into this. This topic in past years has not risen to the top five priorities like it has now,” says Richard […]
States Advance In Extending Health Insurance To Poor Kids
The Clinton administration announced Tuesday that 47 states have enrolled almost two million children in their Children’s Health Insurance Programs. Between December 1998 and October 1999, the states doubled enrollment in CHIP, according to the Health Care Financing Administration. Congress created CHIP in 1997. The program provides states with $24 billion over five years to […]
Public Housing Agencies Experiment With Time Limits
KENT COUNTY, DE — When she went to renew her lease this summer, Dalphine Moore was surprised to learn that she was about to become one of the first participants in yet another federal experiment: a program designed to move families out of public housing. A 36 year-old single mother in the process of working […]
States Forging Ahead On Healthcare Measures
States are way ahead of the U.S. Congress when it comes to setting standards for managed care. Forty three states and the District of Columbia have passed comprehensive Patients’ Rights legislation and three states Texas Georgia and Louisiana have given health insurance customers the right to sue their HMO. Ohio is the latest state to […]
States’ Children’s Health Insurance Programs Get Good Report
WASHINGTON — Nearly one million children from low-income families are getting healthcare benefits under states’ Children’s Health Insurance Programs, or CHIPs, according to the first government report on the massive program created by Congress in 1997. In the report, which was released on Monday, The General Accounting Office said states and the federal government have […]
More States Requiring Mental Health Benefits For Insurees
WASHINGTON — More and more states are requiring that health insurers cover the costs of mental illnesses as well as physical ailments, but so-called “mental health parity” laws are not all created equal. The laws exist in 25 states and range from measures that require coverage of all mental health and substance abuse problems — […]
Social Security Reduces Elderly Poor By 11.4 Million, Study Finds
WASHINGTON – One in two elderly Americans would live below the poverty line were it not for Social Security, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal Washington think-tank. The study, which includes the first state-by-state comparison of Census Bureau Social Security figures, found that the retirement benefit […]
Health Care Review Infrequently Used in Many States
Consumer clamor for health care reform has state and federal lawmakers scrambling to enact pateint protection legislation before the year is out. But in over one-third of the states, laws have already been enacted that have established an independent, impartial process for appealing denials of coverage. The programs are quick, hassle-free and inexpensive, and patients […]