Cost Issues

Covering Kids & Families Access Initiative (CKF-AI) was developed in 2003 to learn more about the variety of access barriers that can prevent meaningful use of insurance coverage even after children and families are formally enrolled. This first phase of the follow-up evaluation was led by Carolyn Needleman, Ph.D., of Social Research Associates.

Researchers from the Urban Institute explore possible changes to the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums as a potential source of financing for health reform.

Research identifies five options for controlling health care costs while increasing quality.

New policy brief examines proposals for expanding Medicaid and CHIP and the consequences for low-Income people.

In an interview with the Web site, Big Think, RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey says that if we want to rein in health care costs and improve patient outcomes, we must find ways to deliver the right care at the right time.

A new analysis from the Urban Institute concludes that these provisions are likely to achieve only partial success.

With Congress and the Obama administration discussing how to reform the nation’s health care system, a new analysis looks at what has happened since the last significant reform effort ended in 1994 without any comprehensive congressional action. At the Brink: Trends in America’s Uninsured 1994-2007 chronicles state-by-state health coverage trends. The report finds that over the last 15 years, nearly every state has seen increased numbers of uninsured residents, greater costs for workers while their incomes are flat, and significant erosion of private coverage.

Download the Full Report
View a Map of U.S. Uninsured Workers
Read the Press Release
Learn about Cover the Uninsured

New Urban Institute research estimates that only 440,000 kids who are currently eligible for public insurance might be covered privately if their parents received government support to pay a share of their employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) premiums.