MHA Press Room

New Edition of "Covering Health Issues" Now Online

The completely updated 200-page Alliance sourcebook, Covering Health Issues, 6th Edition, is now available online.

Written with reporters in mind, "Covering Health Issues" is useful for anyone looking for concise information on health policy issues, and experts from across the political spectrum. Chapters contain fast facts, background, tips for reporters, story ideas and experts with contact information. The book also includes an extensive glossary, ideas and examples for TV and radio reporters, and links to polls on health issues.

To see a video demonstration of the book by Julie Rovner of NPR, click here. To see individual chapters, click on any of the chapter titles below. To download the entire sourcebook as a PDF, click here.

 

Study: Tax proposal poor substitute for SCHIP expansion

Families earning 150%-300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and seeking health coverage for their children would pay much more through an administration-proposed tax subsidy than they would under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to a new study by the Urban Institute. Under a Bush administration proposal to offer parents tax deductions to offset the costs of private health insurance, a two-parent, two-child family earning 250% of FPL (about $54,000 per year) “would still spend more than a fifth of their income on private non-group health coverage to obtain comparable benefits to what they could obtain for their children under SCHIP for 1% of their income,” the authors estimate.

The financial burden for single-parent families with one child would be even greater, they add. The president recently vetoed legislation (H.R. 976) that would reauthorize SCHIP and increase funding to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children. The bill also would roll back new administration rules that limit the ability of states to cover children above 250% of the FPL. The House is expected to hold a veto override vote this week.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Three new health policy releases

The Mississippi Health Policy Research Center's Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University recently released three new health policy briefs:

• “The Demographics of Emergency Room Visits for Mississippi Medicaid Beneficiaries” – Jeralynn S. Cossman, William Sansing, Ike Burson, and Adele Crudden.
• “Diagnoses and Emergency Room Visits for Mississippi Medicaid Beneficiaries” – Ike Burson, William Sansing, Adele Crudden, and Jeralynn S. Cossman
• “Mississippi Mediciad Programs and Emergency Room Use” – Adele Crudden, William Sansing, Jeralynn S. Cossman, and Ike Burson.

For more information, contact Alicia Falls at Alicia.falls@ssrc.msstate.edu or 601.898.9339.

atest MHPRC Policy Fact Sheet

Attached below is the most recent Mississippi Health Policy Research Center’s Policy Fact Sheet, Medicaid HMOs: Lessons for the Medicaid Medical Home?, authored by Humphrey Costello, Jeralynn S. Cossman, and Herbert I. Burson.

Download Medhomelessons1.pdf