1. BACKGROUND A potential source of error in the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) coverage estimates is a matching operation which determined whether the respondents in the population sample (P-sample) were enumerated in the census and whether the enumerations in the enumeration sample (E-sample) were correct. In preparing for Census 2000, the A.C.E. planners put much effort into impro...

BACKGROUND Coverage levels for essential interventions aimed at reducing deaths of mothers and children are increasing steadily in most low-income and middle-income countries. We assessed how much poor and rural populations in these countries are benefiting from national-level progress. METHODS We analysed trends in a composite coverage indicator (CCI) based on eight reproductive, maternal, n...

This study projects how much Medicare beneficiaries who sign up for the standard Part D drug benefit in 2006 will pay in quarterly out-of-pocket payments through 2008. In the first year we estimate that about 38 percent of enrollees will hit the benefit's no-coverage zone, known as the "doughnut hole," and that 14 percent will exceed the catastrophic threshold. Because drug spending is highly p...

This Issue Brief focuses on changes to the health care financing and delivery system as implemented by employers. It discusses health plan costs, cost sharing, plan funding, health care delivery systems, services covered under various health plan types, coverage limitations, and retiree health coverage. National health expenditures are estimated at $1.035 trillion, representing 13.6 percent of ...

Under the PPACA, individuals and families with incomes between 138 percent and 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will be eligible for generous premium subsidies and cost-sharing credits, which they can use to offset the cost of purchasing private insurance on state or federal insurance exchanges created under the law. Uninsured individuals and families with incomes below that level...

If Medicare eligibility were delayed to age sixty-seven, as proposed periodically by policymakers, most sixty-five- and sixty-six-year-olds (the "young elderly") would find alternative sources of coverage. However, the loss of Medicare eligibility would leave about 9 percent of this age group uninsured, while another 11 percent would be underinsured because they could only afford limited nongro...

The percentage of Americans with high medical cost burdens--those who spend more than 10 percent of their family income on out-of-pocket expenses for health care--increased to 19.2 percent in 2011, after having stabilized at 18.2 percent during the Great Recession of 2007-09. The increase was driven primarily by growth in premium expenses in 2009-11 for people with employer-sponsored coverage. ...