State of the States Report Now Available
New Publication Provides Analysis of State Health Coverage Expansions Over Past Year

WASHINGTON, January 31 - State Coverage Initiatives (SCI), an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has released a report analyzing state health care coverage expansions over the last year. Authored by Academy staff, State of the States features perspectives of key state policy leaders and analysis of issues ranging from enrollment barriers to unspent SCHIP funds, and from employer buy-in programs to insurance market reforms.

"It is an old comment, but states continue to serve as the laboratories for developing new approaches to expand health care coverage," says Vickie Gates, director for SCI. "The story of what states have accomplished over the last year is, we hope, a valuable tool for states to learn from each other and for national policymakers to learn from the states' experience."

In addition to reviewing what has been accomplished thus far, the report identifies a number of emerging issues that states are likely to face in the coming year, including providing prescription drug coverage for seniors and expanding coverage to adults under SCHIP. It also touches on obstacles states face in pursuing these expansions, such as budget shortfalls and federal regulations. Finally, the report notes that further progress in reducing the ranks of the uninsured will depend on the ongoing creativity of many states as they address this problem, learn from each other, and explore new options.

For a copy of State of the States, go to www.statecoverage.net/pdf/state01.pdf, or contact LeAnne DeFrancesco at defrancesco@ahsrhp.org. This publication is free-of-charge.
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AcademyHealth (www.academyhealth.org) is the national program office for State Coverage Initiatives. Through providing grants, technical assistance, workshops, and information on best practices, SCI helps to build the policy making and technical capacity of states to address their own unique health care coverage issues.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org), based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in three goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; and to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

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