Urban Institute Press
2 total works
Federalism and Health Policy
by John Holahan, Alan Weil, and Joshua M. Wiener
Published 20 July 2003
The balance between state and federal health care financing for low-income people has been a matter of considerable debate for the last 40 years. Some argue for a greater federal role, others for more devolution of responsibility to the states. Medicaid, the backbone of the system, has been plagued by an array of problems that have made it unpopular and difficult to use to extend health care coverage. In recent years, waivers have given the states the flexibility to change many features of their Medicaid programs; moreover, the states have considerable flexibility to in establishing State Children's Health Insurance Programs. This book examines the record on the changing health safety net. How well have states done in providing acute and long-term care services to low-income populations? How have they responded to financial incentives and federal regulatory requirements? How innovative have they been? Contributing authors include Donald J. Boyd, Randall R. Bovbjerg, Teresa A. Coughlin, Ian Hill, Michael Housman, Robert E. Hurley, Marilyn Moon, Mary Beth Pohl, Jane Tilly, and Stephen Zuckerman.
The welfare reform debate is not over, despite declarations of success from many politicians and commentators. Welfare Reform: The Next Act draws on six years of in-depth research to explore the implications of 1996's welfare reform . The authors examine all facets of the new system: its effects on family structure and children, its success in moving welfare recipients to work, its ability to reach hard-to-serve populations, its effects on immigrants, and its disproportionate impacts across racial and ethnic lines. It is the most rigorous and comprehensive analysis available--and an invaluable tool for determining how the new welfare system can meet the needs of vulnerable families through all phases of the economic cycle.