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Coverage for the Uninsured
Health care continues to be one of the most pressing issues facing the nation, the states, and individuals and their families. Community Catalyst has a long track record of assisting state-based consumer health organizations and networks expand health care coverage. With the number of people without health care insurance rising daily, it is crucial we find a way to provide accessible, affordable, quality health care for everyone – especially the most vulnerable members of our communities.
- October 09, 2012 FAQ: Does the ACA Help Families with Hospital Bills? Recently, the IRS released draft rules that will further regulate hospital behavior, with some real wins for patients and families. This FAQ answers some common questions about the draft rules.
- May 02, 2012 Assessing Consumer Protections in the Final Exchange Regulations Based on Community Catalyst’s work with advocates to develop state Exchanges around the country, we have updated a document that highlights 10 important priorities for consumers.
- August 01, 2011 Assessing Consumer Protections in the July 2011 HHS Exchange Regulations Based on Community Catalyst’s work to help develop state Exchanges around the country, this document highlights 10 important priorities for consumers and outlines key areas that require stronger protections or clarification in the federal regulations.
- March 19, 2010 Gains in the States: Consumer Advocacy and Federal-State Alliances Help Expand Health Coverage Despite a deep economic recession and the promise of national health care reform, states advanced access to quality affordable health care in 2009.
- August 31, 2009 Progress Despite Barriers: Public demand spurs expansion of health coverage Many states expanded health care coverage in 2008, despite the economic crisis that exacerbated the burden of health costs on state budgets and forced states to make drastic spending cuts, according to two nationwide surveys. Drawing on public demand for quality, affordable health care, consumer advocates provided much of the impetus for these expansions.
- February 11, 2009 Expanding Coverage for Dependents Expanding Coverage for Dependents describes one solution: changing state laws to allow young people to remain on their parents’ health insurance beyond age 18. This is a smart strategy during a fiscal crunch, as there is no cost to the state and typically little extra cost to parents and insurers.
- September 02, 2008 Healthy San Francisco: A Case Study of City-Level Health Reform Community Catalyst releases a new report today, Healthy San Francisco: A Case Study of City Level Health Reform. Healthy San Francisco (HSF) is an innovative attempt to address the problems of the uninsured at the city level.
- July 01, 2008 California's Near Miss: Understanding the proposed ABx1-1 legislation California's most recent attempt to enact a broad expansion of health insurance coverage met its final road-block in the 2007 legislative session this January. In mid-December, months of intense negotiations between the Democratic State Legislature and the Republican Governor culminated in a promising compromise: the Health Security and Cost Reduction Act (ABx1-1).
- December 01, 2007 Revisiting Massachusetts Health Reform: 18 Months Later This paper examines enrollment and coverage in the first year-and-a-half of implementation. The examination of policies tested in Massachusetts health reform provides important lessons for other states.
- July 17, 2007 A Consumer Guide to Creating a Health Insurance Connector An easy-to-read report explaining health insurance Connectors, and outlining six policy elements to help Connectors reduce the cost of insurance, make coverage available to all, and reduce the number of uninsured.
- July 16, 2007 A Consumer Checklist for Creating a Health Insurance Connector While a Connector can improve the functioning of the health insurance market in a state, it needs to work within a certain climate and contain certain elements as outlined in this checklist.
- January 01, 2007 Walk in My Shoes Brochure Brief summary of Walk In My Shoes program
- December 01, 2006 Understanding Health Reform in Vermont This paper will look at what the Vermont law does, how it came to pass, and what lessons there may be for other states.
- April 21, 2006 Massachusetts Health Reform: What it Does; How it Was Done; Challenges Ahead On Tuesday April 4, 2006 the Massachusetts House and Senate voted to approve legislation that will extend health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents. At the same time, the legislation leaves many critical questions about the scope and cost of benefits and the obligations of individuals to purchase coverage unanswered. This report attempts to explain the critical issues.
- June 01, 2005 Access to Affordable Insurance for Individuals and Small Businesses: Barriers and Potential Solutions This paper is directed to health access advocates. Its goal is to provide enough information so that they can educate their constituencies – many of whom are small business owners or employees -- on why coverage costs are so high and availability so limited. It also addresses what’s wrong – or right – with the approaches that have been proposed or tried to date to make coverage more affordable and accessible. Finally, it recommends a package of reforms that offer the best hope for providing relief without placing undue burden on those who are in less than perfect health.
- February 05, 2004 What Does Maine's New Health Care Law Mean for Other States? A report on Maine's new health law
- November 01, 2003 An Ounce of Prevention: Tobacco Control Saves Money, Saves Lives As spiraling health care inflation continues to threaten the security of public and private health care insurance, prevention programs will help provide the cost savings necessary to protect and expand health access without hurting consumers.
- November 01, 2003 Coverage Matters: Why the decline in Medicaid and private insurance is putting people with tobacco-related illnesses at risk This paper gives a brief overview of the Medicaid program and its significance as a source of coverage for people with cancer, cardiovascular disease and tobacco related illnesses in general. It goes on to explain why this coverage is at risk and the serious consequences to people with the aforementioned illnesses of the potential loss of coverage.
- April 01, 2003 Hospital Free Care Programs: A Study of Sixteen Long Island Hospitals This report is a sequel to our first study “Hospital Community Benefits and Free Care Programs” which was released in March, 2001. The original study contains background information, the survey protocol and a review of N.Y. State’s laws and regulations that pertain to hospital community benefits and charitable care. None of this information is repeated herein.
- December 01, 2002 Making the Case Against Medicaid Cuts Presentation A powerpoint presentation to the Alliance for a Healthy New England Summit
- July 01, 2001 Mending the Safety Net: A Hospital-Community Collaboration Improves Access to Free Care in Columbus
- March 01, 2001 Hospital Community Benefits and Free Care Programs: An Initial Study of Seven Long Island Hospitals Based on the findings of this initial pilot study, this report has developed recommendations that hospitals, state government, and community members will be encouraged to use in order to improve the quality and responsiveness of hospital free care and community benefits programs.
- October 01, 2000 Getting Health Care When You Are Uninsured: A Survey of Uninsured Patients at Four Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio This report summarizes national data on the impact of health insurance on access to care and health outcomes, and presents the results of the survey in one community, Cleveland, Ohio.