Community Health Centers: Their Post-Stimulus Role in Health Reform

Community health centers (CHCs) play a key role in the U.S. health care safety net. They provide primary health care and other health services for medically underserved populations, including 1 in 8 Medicaid beneficiaries, 1 in 7 uninsured persons, 1 in 3 people in poverty, 1 in 10 minorities, and 1 in 9 rural Americans.

Dental Health: Nurturing the Health Care System’s Neglected Stepchild

The recent deaths of two children due to preventable dental conditions focused attention on the importance of improving access to dental coverage for low-income Americans. With SCHIP reauthorization on the horizon and the chance that elements of last year’s vetoed SCHIP proposal—which included provisions for dental care—may be revived, oral health issues are front and center.

Making the Grade: Improving the U.S. Health System

The U.S. health care system is often touted as a model for the rest of the world. We are clearly a leader in costs, but how well are we performing in return for our high investment? How do we do compare to benchmarks of achievable performance? And is performance getting better?

Bioterroism and the States: How Much Improvement?

In 2003, the Trust for America’s Health released a report on state preparedness in the age of bioterrorism. The study found that despite nearly $2 billion in federal funding, state public health systems were insufficiently prepared to handle a bioterrorist attack.

Reversing a Super-Sized Epidemic: Policy Options For Dealing With Obesity

With nearly 130 million people obese or overweight, America is truly facing an epidemic. The proportion of Americans who are overweight or obese rose to 64 percent of the population in 2000 from 60 percent in 1990. Moreover, nearly 17 percent of preventable deaths in 2000 were attributable to poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles, up from 14 percent in 1990, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Preparing for Bioterrorism: A Report Card on State Efforts

September 11 and subsequent anthrax attacks demonstrated clearly that our public health system was not prepared to cope with a large-scale emergency. Congress responded by appropriating $1.8 billion to help states and communities better prepare. Another $1.12 billion is contained in the omnibus appropriations bill for 2004 awaiting final action.

Advancing Health Insurance Stability and Quality for Kids

Despite significant state and federal efforts to cover kids, including the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, 9.2 million Americans under the age of 19 (12.1 percent of all Americans) went without health insurance in 2001, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Such a lack of coverage can have serious clinical and financial consequences for children and their parents, such as children not receiving critical preventative care, including immunizations. At the same time, even children with coverage don’t necessarily receive high quality care. To cite one example, immunization rates for children two or younger in 2000 were below the Childhood Immunization Initiative’s goal of at least 90 percent.