THE PRIVATE HEALTH insurance industry in the United States is made up of three broad categories: Blue Cross and Blue Shield associations, commercial insurance companies, and independent plans. In 1970 these private health insurance organizations provided some protection to approximately four-fifths of the civilian population-against the costs of hospital care and surgical care. For 72 percent o...

BACKGROUND Under-five mortality remains high in Burkina Faso with significant reductions required to meet Millennium Development Goal 4. The Acceleration for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health is being implemented to reduce child mortality in the North and Center North regions of Burkina Faso. METHODS The Lives Saved Tool was used to determine the percent reduction in child mortality that ca...

OBJECTIVE To assess whether participation in a state publicly financed health insurance program, Massachusetts Children's Medical Security Plan (CMSP) , which is open to children regardless of income, was associated with disenrollment from private insurance. DATA SOURCES/STUDY DESIGN A survey of participants in CMSP who were enrolled as of April 1998 was used. We conducted analyses to detect ...

Between 2000 and 2004, the number of uninsured Americans increased by six million, primarily because of a decline in employer-sponsored insurance. All of the increase occurred among adults, for whom the drop in employer coverage was not offset by an increase in public coverage. The number of uninsured children fell slightly. About two-thirds of the growth in the uninsured was among Americans be...

In 1989 an estimated 33.9 million persons in the civilian noninstitu­ tionalized population of the United States (13.9 percent) were reported to lack health care coverage. This point-prevalence estimate represents an average for 52 weeks of household interviews conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). It is a measure of a person’s coverage stat...

Open enrollment in 2014 exceeded expectations for consumer participation. Even at this early stage, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly reduced the number of uninsured. Nevertheless, many consumers remain without coverage despite eligibility for Medicaid or subsidies to lower the cost of qualified health plans (QHPs) offered in health insurance marketplaces. O...

We estimate the relation between enhanced benefits offered by the Medicare+Choice (M+C) plan in 1999 and a measure of risk selection based on inpatient encounter data. Higher risks are attracted to plans that offer outpatient drug coverage. The risk score increases by 2.2 percent for drug coverage with an annual limit less than $800 and by 3.6 percent for coverage with a limit more than $800. H...

This Issue Brief provides summary data on the insured and uninsured populations in the nation and in each state. It discusses the characteristics most closely related to an individual's health insurance status. Based on EBRI estimates from the March 2000 Current Population Survey (CPS), it represents 1999 data--the most recent available. In 1999, for the first time since at least 1987, the perc...

This study estimates the effect of universal coverage on the use and cost of health services by the uninsured. Adults lacking insurance for a full year have about 60 percent as many ambulatory contacts and about 70 percent of the inpatient hospital days they would have if they were covered by insurance. This "access gap" is only slightly smaller for children. Providing universal coverage would ...