State by state, consumer advocates are working together and with their policymakers to find solutions and expand health care coverage. Learn from the challenges, collaborations, and opportunities that states face, resolve, and continue to grapple with as they work to change the health care system so it works for everyone.
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June 08, 2009
An Example of Consumer Engagement: The Massachusetts Helpline Massachusetts’s landmark health care reform plan, passed in 2006, opened up new insurance coverage for hundreds of thousands of residents. This report discusses the success of the Massachusetts helpline. -
June 04, 2009
Creating Exchanges: Lessons from Massachusetts Massachusetts’ experience with health reform offers useful lessons as Congress considers creating a national health insurance Exchange. The report delves into that issue. -
June 04, 2009
Massachusetts Health Reform: The Facts Since Massachusetts passed its landmark health care reform plan in April 2006, 428,000 people have gained quality, affordable health coverage. The fact sheet provides basic information about health reform happened in the Commonwealth. -
February 18, 2009
Expanding Coverage for Dependents While thirty states have extended the age to which young adults may remain on their parents' insurance, most states place restrictions on which dependents are eligible for coverage. The report incorporates lessons learned from advocates in many of those states and offers suggested tactics for campaigns to expand dependent coverage, including reducing eligibility restrictions. -
January 27, 2009
Saving Money by Improving Medicaid Saving Money by Improving Medicaid provides short term and longer-term cost containment options for states. 1. Chronically ill patients account for the largest portion of Medicaid spending, and care management programs can save money and improve the quality of patient care. 2. Tying treatment decisions more closely to evidence of effectiveness can save money and improve care. 3. Longer-term cost containment strategies also have great potential to improve quality. -
December 09, 2008
Getting What You Pay For: Reducing Wasteful Medical Spending Consumer advocates and policymakers can promote changes to reduce these sources of waste and improve patient care, such as: • Requiring disclosure of medical errors and misuse of care • Informing patients and their doctors about the effectiveness and costs of treatment options • Paying for care based on quality rather than quantity -
November 19, 2008
The Pitfalls of High Risk Pools A Community Catalyst brief on high risk pools -
October 15, 2008
More for Our Health Care Dollar: Improving Quality to Cut Costs The first in a series on consumer-friendly approaches to cost containment. -
September 02, 2008
Healthy San Francisco: A Case Study of City-Level Health Reform Community Catalyst releases Healthy San Francisco: A Case Study of City Level Health Reform. Healthy San Francisco (HSF) is an innovative attempt to address the problems of the uninsured at the city level. -
August 18, 2008
Massachusetts Health Reform: What is the real story? Community Catalyst in partnership with Health Care for All in Massachusetts created a brief fact sheet outlining the successes and challenges of the state's health reform law. -
August 04, 2008
California's Near Miss: Understanding the policies and politics of the proposed ABx1-1 legislation This paper examines the California experience, and endeavors to draw lessons for other state and national health reform efforts. The first section of this paper describes the stalled legislation and what it would have accomplished. The next section addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the policy itself. Finally, the last section analyzes the politics surrounding the reform, and identifies four political strategy lessons for advocates attempting to move a health reform agenda on either the state or the national level. -
February 28, 2008
A Guide to Protecting Consumers under an Individual Mandate This report examines the policies that can help make an individual mandate work best for consumers. -
December 01, 2007
Revisiting Massachusetts Health Reform: 18 Months Later from Community Catalyst The Massachusetts health care reform law included a number of new and untested ideas, but also left certain critical decisions to implementation. This paper looks at enrollment and coverage in the first year-and-a-half of implementation and examines many of the decisions that have been made throughout the last 18 months and the role of consumer health advocacy in each of them. -
November 01, 2007
Leading the Way? Maine’s Initial Experience in Expanding Coverage through Dirigo Health Reforms from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Based on several interim indicators and measures, this report evaluates Dirigo Health’s progress in expanding insurance coverage at the end of 2006, midway between the legislation’s adoption and the 2009 goal. It focuses on enrollment trends and implementation experience with DirigoChoice and MaineCare, two coverage initiatives authorized under the Dirigo Health Act. -
July 01, 2007
The State of Health Insurance in California from UCLA Center for Health Policy Research This publication shows that the continued erosion of California's job-based health insurance -- which the vast majority of insured residents rely upon to pay for medical services -- is a clear indication of the need to reform the state's health care system. -
December 01, 2006
Understanding Health Reform in Vermont from Community Catalyst In late 2006, the state of Vermont passed legislation, known as Catamount Health, to reduce the number of uninsured and bring it within striking distance of universal coverage. This paper looks at what the Vermont law does, how it came to pass, and what lessons there may be for other states. -
October 01, 2006
Consumer Health Advocacy: A View from 16 States This report looks at state health reform in 16 states addressing the following questions: What is actually happening in state capitals and communities across the nation as these trends play out and crucial health policy decisions are being made? Can health care consumers actively participate in health policymaking? What political, economic, and organizational factors are making consumer health advocacy successful in some states and extremely challenging in others? -
April 01, 2006
Massachusetts Health Reform: What it Does; How it was Done; Challenges Ahead from Community Catalyst In 2006, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to approve legislation to extend health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents. At the same time, the legislation leaves many critical questions about the scope and cost of benefits and the obligations of individuals to purchase coverage unanswered. This report outlines what the law really does and what the factors were that led to its passage and explores questions about the important unknowns that remain and lessons for other states. -
February 05, 2004
Dirigo Health: What does Maine’s New Health Care Law Mean for Other States from Community Catalyst On June 18th,2003, Maine governor John Baldacci signed into law a comprehensive health care initiative know as Dirigo Health. Dirigo is Latin for “I lead”, the state motto. This issue brief provides an overview of Dirigo Health and outlines areas that might inform the health policy debate in other states as well.
