2004 Fall Forum: Health and Fiscal Policy

Access downloadable attachments > While budget and tax policy issues can seem dull or appear hard to understand, decisions about public expenditures and revenues clearly have tremendous significance for health care delivery and health outcomes.  Growth in spending, declining tax revenues, and the existence of large budget deficits at the state and federal level now set the context for health policy decisions on the future of Medicaid, Medicare, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and other sources of public coverage; the resilience of the safety net; and other public health programs.  

GIH's 2004 Fall Forum provided an opportunity for health grantmakers to learn more about the current and potential consequences of this fiscal crisis for the populations they serve.  The program brought together grantmaking colleagues with government staff, policy experts, researchers, and community advocates to discuss opportunities and strategies for protecting public programs in the short term and working towards more sustainable and equitable policies over the long term.  We also considered how to break down the barriers between health and other sectors as these issues are discussed.

Program features included: 

• setting the context with Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office;
• a facilitated panel discussion featuring journalists and political observers to consider the impact of the election (presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial) on health policy. 
• roundtable discussions on tax reform, access and coverage initiatives, and building policy capacity; 
• a briefing to update funders on developments in Medicare and Medicaid;
• breakfast roundtables with key federal officials on the activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and 
• intensive sessions on messaging and building bridges with funders and advocates in other sectors (such as education and social welfare).

Webcasts of both plenary sessions are available on-line through kaisernetwork.org.  Visit http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=1303 to
view the Webcasts, and access transcripts, speaker presentations, and other materials.

Guest speakers included:

• Robert Reischauer, Urban Institute
• Peter Harkness, Governing
• Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution
• Bill McInturff, Public Opinion Strategies
• Ron Pollack, Families USA
• Andy Schneider, Medicaid Policy LLC
• Alan Weil, National Academy of State Health Policy

The program also included representatives from the following grantmaking organizations:  The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Boston Foundation, The California Endowment, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Healthy New Hampshire Foundation, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Maine Health Access Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, and Quantum Foundation, Inc.

Related Information

	Presentation by Robert Reischauer, Urban Institute (554K) [download]
	Presentation by Tricia Neuman, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (168K) [download]
	Presentation by Gary Bass, OMB Watch (613K) [download]

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