This report presents estimates on private health insurance for 1977, based on the National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES). The NMCES obtained information on private insurance policies in force in 1977 from the employers and insurance companies of a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. A brief…

In the wake of welfare reform efforts, the government is willing to provide or finance a wide range of services for working parents and help them purchase child care and child health insurance. Taken together, these services represent a significant attack on child poverty. Based on a basic needs' budget for families and the high proportion of a…

In light of reduced or eliminated federal funding, this report discusses mental health services provisions. The history of mental health service funding is presented. Funding responsibility is traced from communities, to states, to private health insurance, to federal assistance, to community provision with state and federal funds, and finally to…

This paper begins by noting that at the time that Medicare was enacted in 1965, the plans for funding Medicare through a mix of public and private financing mechanisms seemed quite adequate. It goes on to explain how, 20 years later, the situation is changing enough to create a need to examine whether there is a fairer or more efficient way to…

The issue brief describes the research base for the National Center for Children in Poverty's (NCCP's) framework to assess welfare changes from a children's perspective and points to lessons from current and past welfare-to-work evaluations. Many changes are now implemented in welfare policies due to new legislation titled the Personal…

Historically, the financial responsibility for caring for those with mental illness has shifted back and forth from the local community, to the state, to the federal government. Today states provide the vast majority of the funds to the state mental health agencies and oversee local governments and most private resources for mental health funding.…