Home > Toolkits
 

Toolkits

Change Text Size:   Smaller Text Size   Larger Text Size   Default Text Size    

Webpage A Reporter's Toolkit: Health Information Technology, Toolkit_Health_Information_Technology_78.asp

1/3/2008: This toolkit, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will help you understand how health information technology (IT) is slowly changing health care, and how analysts disagree about the value of some technologies. We offer an introduction to issues such as protecting patient privacy and the cost of new technologies. This resource also offers story ideas, selected experts with contact information, selected websites of interest and a glossary.

 

Webpage A Reporter's Toolkit: Health Care Costs, Health_Care_Costs_77.asp

11/27/2007: This toolkit, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will help you understand trends in U.S. health spending, and some of the reasons why spending is going up. We also cover some ideas for restraining health care costs. In addition, this resource offers story ideas, selected experts with contact information, selected websites, and a glossary.

 

Webpage A Reporter's Toolkit: Child Health Coverage, Child_Health_Coverage_76.asp

11/14/2007: This toolkit, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers links to resources that will help you understand how children in the U.S. get health coverage, and the importance of employer-sponsored coverage and public programs to children. We offer an overview of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), with an update on congressional reauthorization of the program. This resource also offers key facts, story ideas for reporters, selected experts with contact information, selected websites, and a glossary.

 

Webpage A Reporter's Toolkit: Medicaid, Medicaid_Toolkit_75.asp

11/9/2007: A Reporter's Toolkit: Medicaid This toolkit, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will help you understand who the Medicaid program covers, how it is financed, how it differs from Medicare, how states can alter Medicaid through federal waivers, and what the future holds for the program. This resource also offers key facts, brief background, story ideas, selected experts with contact information, selected websites and a glossary.

 

Webpage A Reporter's Toolkit: The Uninsured, uninsured_toolkit_74.asp

11/1/2007: This toolkit, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is designed for reporters covering health issues during Campaign 2008, but will be useful for others looking for up-to-date resources on the uninsured. The toolkit features dozens of links to useful websites and articles, including links to websites tracking presidential candidates' health reform plans. It also includes key facts, background, story ideas, lists of experts and websites, and a glossary.

 

Adobe Acrobat PDF Toolkit: Crowd-out and SCHIP, Crowd-out_and_SCHIP_toolkit_70.pdf

9/12/2007: Congress and the White House are gridlocked on SCHIP reauthorization beyond November. President Bush has vetoed the first SCHIP bill to cross his desk. CMS has issued tough new rules governing when states can open up their SCHIP programs to children above 200 percent of the federal poverty. One reason for all of the above: crowd-out – the phenomenon of people dropping private health coverage when public coverage becomes more easily available. This new toolkit from the Alliance for Health Reform helps explain why crowd-out occurs and offers links to late-breaking developments affecting SCHIP enrollment. A list of experts and websites is also included.

 

Adobe Acrobat PDF Toolkit: ERISA and State Health Reform, ERISA_and_State_Health_Reform_68.pdf

8/7/2007: Many policy experts believe that sweeping general reform to our national health system is not likely to happen without success stories from state-level reforms. Yet many state reforms may be in conflict with the federal statute known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA. This toolkit covers the basics and ERISA and presents expert opinion on both sides of the ERISA vs. state reform issue.

 

Adobe Acrobat PDF Toolkit: Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans, Medicare_Private_Fee-for-Service_Plans_65.pdf

7/13/2007: Over the past three years, enrollment in Medicare private fee-for-service (PFFS) plans has increased significantly. These plans offer a potentially greater choice of providers than beneficiaries will find in Medicare HMOs or PPOs. They often provide extra benefits not found in traditional Medicare. Beneficiaries attracted to the plans hope to lower their out-of-pocket costs compared to what they would pay in traditional Medicare. However, the plans have drawn the interest of federal budget cutters since they cost more per beneficiary than traditional Medicare. Moreover, beneficiaries have been reporting confusion about the plans and sometimes, enrollment fraud. Some private fee-for-service beneficiaries have been denied services by physicians who previously accepted their traditional Medicare coverage. This toolkit contains resources that describe the basics of PFFS plans, advantages and incentives included in the plans, and the challenges that PFFS enrollees have encountered along the way.

 

Adobe Acrobat PDF Massachusetts Health Reform Toolkit, Massachusetts_Health_Reform_Toolkit_61.pdf

7/5/2007: Starting July 1, every adult in Massachusetts is required to have health coverage (except for 60,000 people exempted by the state). To help you understand the state's pace-setting near-universal coverage plan and its implications, the Alliance for Health Reform has compiled a toolkit with links to representative articles and documents from across the ideological spectrum. You will also find a list of selected experts and websites. We recommend these articles and experts to you, and welcome your suggestions for additions to our list. You may email those to info@allhealth.org

 

 


Issue Brief: Employer-Sponsored Coverage


This Alliance issue brief, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers perspective on why employer-sponsored coverage is shrinking and how alarmed we should be about this trend. Written by Lisa Swirsky, senior health policy associate at the Alliance. To download, click here.

Read More 


Updated Issues Guide for Cover the Uninsured Week


We invite you to read “Health Care Coverage in America: Understanding the Issues and Proposed Solutions,” produced for Cover the Uninsured Week 2008. This 24-page guide, newly updated, provides a readable overview on how Americans get health coverage, why coverage is so important, why so many of us don’t have it and what be done to ease the problem. You'll find many graphs and links to sources of additional information, including a glossary of health coverage terms and several specific proposals for change. Also includes nine questions to ask when evaluating any health reform proposal. To download, click here.

Read More 


Issue Brief: Health Reform Lessons Learned


No matter who wins the White House and control of Congress in November, health reform legislation will likely be a front-burner issue for both the House and Senate in 2009. The debates about reform and the behind-the-scenes meetings of 1993 and 1994 produced a wealth of knowledge on what should be done differently the next time Congress and the White House take up this issue. This issue brief, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, recounts nine lessons learned as recalled by veterans from both sides of the aisle and from the administration. To download, click here.

Read More 

Issue Brief: Changing Nursing Home Culture


About a third of those turning 65 in 2010 will need nursing home care during their lifetimes. Yet so many people dread the thought of spending their last days or years in a nursing home. This is because they aren’t aware of the creative alternatives being developed for those needing such care – facilities such as “Green Houses” that are resident-centered, less institutional and more home-like.

The issue brief, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reports on the challenges being faced by those trying to change the nursing home culture, and some of their successes. The publication includes a list of expert sources and helpful websites. To download, click here.

Read More 

Putting the Brakes on Health Care Costs: Would the Candidates’ Plans Work? Are There Better Solutions?


Would the health plans of Sens. Obama and McCain curb health care spending? Doubtful, said three respected health economists speaking at this briefing cosponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Other solutions offer more cost-cutting potential, speakers said.

Read More

Green Houses Getting Attention as Long-Term Care Alternative


Green Houses, small long-term care facilities housing six to 10 residents, are getting some well-deserved media attention. On June 24, the Wall Street Journal featured a Page 1 story on the Green House movement. For those interested in the subject, we recommend the Alliance issue brief, Changing the Nursing Home Culture, written by Alliance health policy associate Deanna Okrent, and our related briefing. Both were cosponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Read More 

Copyright 1997-2008 Alliance for Health Reform
1444 Eye Street, NW, Suite 910 Washington, DC 20005-6573      202-789-2300      202-789-2233 fax      info@allhealth.org      Sitemap