The Residual Uninsured: Taking Stock, Taking Care

By the time the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented in 2019, government analysts estimate that about 89 percent of the nonelderly U.S. population will be covered by health insurance. An estimated 11 percent of the nonelderly population, more than 30 million people nationwide, will remain uninsured.

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Health Care for the Neediest: The Critical Transformation

The United States now stands on the cusp of important expansion in access to affordable health insurance coverage that was promised in the enactment of federal health reform legislation in 2010. As actors and stakeholders throughout the health system prepare for a surge in the insured population, leaders are looking ahead to the looming challenges that will move to center stage as the crisis of the uninsured recedes: How can we reduce the heavy burden of health care cost growth on our nation’s families, employers, state budgets, and federal health care programs?

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Gun Control: A Health Policy Issue?

Although the health-related consequences of gun violence are undeniable, the need for stronger gun control policies to address these health outcomes is hotly contested. Is the field of health philanthropy particularly “gun shy” about engaging in the contentious policy debate surrounding gun control? A number of health funders have supported grants and initiatives related to violence prevention, but relatively few have explicitly recognized gun control as a health policy objective.

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2013 Terrance Keenan Award Speech

The following remarks are from former Missouri Foundation for Health President and CEO James Kimmey’s acceptance speech upon receiving The Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy on March 14, 2013.

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Big Ideas to Blueprints: Decisive Grantmaking in Dynamic Times

Download the GIH essay written for the 2013 annual meeting Big Ideas to Blueprints: Decisive Grantmaking in Dynamic Times. Foundation leaders were also invited to pen guest commentaries and share their thoughts around the annual meeting theme.

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Innovations in Care for Chronically Ill Patients

Caring for patients with one or more long-term health conditions is the bread and butter of our health care system; yet innovations in care for the chronically ill do not always receive the attention they deserve. In this Issue Focus, promising paths to care improvement, challenges, and areas for future exploration are discussed.

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Using Media to Fight Obesity

Efforts to market foods of minimal nutritional value are believed to have significantly exacerbated the obesity epidemic. This Issue Focus describes research regarding anti-obesity media messaging and provides examples of campaigns that are providing reliable, healthful information to counteract such marketing.

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Reducing Hospital Readmissions: What Is at Stake and What Will it Take?

Nearly one in five Medicare inpatients is readmitted to the hospital in the 30 days following discharge, most often for reasons relating to the original hospital stay. Such read missions are very costly, accounting for more than $17 billion annually in Medicare spending. With the view that many rehospitalizations could be averted through improvements in health care delivery, finding the path to reduce read missions and capture the resulting savings has seized the imagination of many policy wonks and spurred attention, along with some action, on the front lines.

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