From Page 1

I was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung disease. It is not something you catch. When I was an infant, my parents were told my life expectancy was five years. When I reached that figure, it became 10. The figure for someone born with it today is 32, I am now 33 and my life has not ended yet.

I have two hours every day of pounding on my chest to loosen and bring up mucous from my lungs. I have to strap on a therapy vest four times a day, one that uses air pressure to do the pounding. Each workout is 30 minutes long.

In addition, I inhale three medicines through a nebulizer. This procedure also has to be done four times every day. I take albuterol each time, pulmozyne once and an antibiotic, colistin, twice. The first session with the nebulizer lasts 45 minutes; the second two, 15 minutes each; and the fourth, a half an hour.

This is my day.

Also, I take 18 different prescription pills. I have to swallow six pills every time I eat because I cannot digest food. Among the others I take are antibiotics and heartburn medicine.

In 2000, right after Christmas, I had a stroke and the doctors discovered a hole in my heart and had to fix it.

Still, I take my kids to schools and do everything I can.

I have been on a waiting list for a lung transplant for three years. You have to be really, really sick to get one—have 25% or less of a normal person’s lung capacity. Mine has hovered around 35%. So far this year, my lungs have collapsed four times and I had to go into the hospital. Now, it’s down to around 25% and I have a greater chance for getting a transplant.

I am on Medicare. It pays for 80% of doctor visits and most of my hospital costs. I am also on Medicaid and need it to pay for my prescriptions, the rest of my doctor bills and a number of necessary home medical supplies.

Since I was 18 years old and became independent I have been on Medicaid. I was not eligible for it before then because my parents’ income did not fit under the guidelines.

When I met my future husband, we could not get married because I would no longer have qualified for Medicaid. They changed the rules and I became eligible under a special program for what they called the “medically needy.”

For me to be eligible under the medically needy classification, my medications have to cost more than $2,000 in a given month. The pharmacy compiles its bills on the first of the month and gives me the total, which is usually around $8,000. I show it to the Medicaid staff and they say, “Yes, you are eligible. No question about it.”

The problem is that each year since Gov. JebBush took office, he has asked the Florida legislature to take the Medically Needy program out of the budget. He does not say why, other than that he believes the state cannot afford it. For six years, I have been fighting to keep it in the budget. Every time, the decision had gone down to the last day, the last minute.

Two years ago, it looked like it was really going to happen. My husband and I went through divorce proceedings so I could retain my eligibility. We told the judge and the people at Medicaid what we were doing and why we were doing it. The judge understood and granted us the divorce “regretfully.”

Up until a month ago, my husband worked as a school custodian, but then became school security. Of course, he does not make much money, but it is enough that it would make me ineligible for straightforward Medicaid if the medically needy classification no longer existed. If the cut had been made, he would have had to move out and is still prepared to do that should it happen in the future. It is a terrible shame, but this is how Medicaid works.

A state gets a block grant from the federal government to help pay for the next five years of its costs. There is no way, the state can project what these will be and the funds start to get tight after the first year.

The Florida governor and legislature have made other cost cuts, for example, by ending dental benefits. I have three broken teeth that I cannot get fixed as a result. The Florida state legislature has what it calls a Medicaid Reform Committee and I have testified before it. Its members were very courteous, but then went on to vote for cutting the program anyway.

Medicaid spending is really high. It really is. I don’t disagree with that. But people need it.

The latest thing is that Medicaid benefits are going to be paid out through HMOs, supposedly because that will somehow save money. But, I will say this. People whose needs are as desperate as mine are not going to thrive under the HMOs.

I have told the press about these things and have been quoted in something like eight articles. Also, I have written the governor and all the state legislators- some many times- and written a lot of letters to the editors of different newspapers.

People really need to pay attention to this.”

Return to Top

RECENT HEALTH ADVOCACY ARTICLES

March 17, 2006

STATE ISSUES

Lawmakers take blame for KidCare problems

The number of children in Florida's low-cost health insurance program has plummeted in recent years, sparking outrage among families struggling to get into the program and advocates accusing KidCare officials of creating too many barriers for needy families. But on Wednesday, legislators pinned the blame on themselves and praised KidCare officials for recent strides to improve the beleaguered program. (3/16/06, Palm Beach Post)

Money to feed disabled kids is cut

Florida's Medicaid agency has cut off payments for nutritional supplements for severely disabled children, saying it needs to control costs. (3/12/06, Miami Herald)

OPINION: Don't cut funds for Florida KidCare

The children in Florida may be needlessly suffering as Florida KidCare enrollment steadily decreases. Since year round open enrollment began on June 10, Florida KidCare enrollment has steadily declined across the state. As a result, Gov. Jeb Bush is proposing to cut $197 million from Florida KidCare. The decrease in Florida KidCare enrollment can be attributed to: changes in documentation requirements, continually changing programmatic components of Florida KidCare (e.g., limited open enrollment periods, waiting lists, renewal rules), and lack of statewide outreach funding to promote the program. (3/11/06, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Farmworkers' issues may be tough sell

Picking out a solution to protect farmworkers may prove just as tough for lawmakers when the Florida Legislature convenes Tuesday. A legislative commission issued a report last month recommending several steps to improve safety and conditions for farmworkers, but it's unclear if there's the political will to push for such changes. (3/6/06, Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida lawmakers will continue to retool the state's $15 billion Medicaid program. Bush's proposal would give recipients a choice of private insurance plans, including HMOs, which are already heavily involved. Insurers would decide the level of Medicaid benefits for pregnant women, people with disabilities, children and the elderly in nursing homes. (3/3/06, Tallahassee Democrat)

State gets low grade on mental health care

The U.S. health care system is failing adults with serious mental health

problems, according to a national survey released Wednesday. Overall, the nation's mental health care system earned a D on the report card issued by the National Association for the Mentally Ill. The nation's D grade confirmed what a presidential commission has called "a system in shambles," the report said. Florida squeaked by with a C-minus in the first state-by-state comparison of mental health services in 15 years.

(3/2/06, Bradenton Herald)

NATIONAL ISSUES

Medicare and Medicaid

Bush Admits Rocky Start to Drug Plan

President Bush tried on Tuesday to tamp down complaints by retirees and pharmacists about the start of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, acknowledging that problems plagued its early days.... The White House was flooded with complaints about retirees who could not obtain their drugs at the promised discount, and independent pharmacists from Texas complained in recent days to Karl Rove, the president's deputy chief of staff and political strategist, that they had been forced to give out millions of dollars?. (3/14/06, New York Times)

Drug benefit blues: New Medicare plan putting squeeze on pharmacies

It took Dennis Song eight years to amass a $10,000 emergency fund for his pharmacy in Flower Mound, Texas. It took about two months under the new Medicare drug benefit to drain it. (3/14/06, Ocala Star-Banner)

Pharmacists say drug plan threatens their livelihood

Pharmacists say they have been losing money under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, and they have taken their concerns to the White House, forcing the administration to confront political problems caused by the rocky start of Medicare Part-D. (3/13/06, New York Times)

Medicare Issue Resolution System 'Broken', Grassley Says

In a letter to CMS, Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) stated that Medicare's system for investigating complaints is "broken" and does not improve the overall quality of care, the Washington Post reports. Grassley also added that the committee's investigation raised many concerns regarding "questionable expenditures, board member and executive staff conflicts of interest and the quality and effectiveness," of the services of Medicare's Quality Improvement Organizations. (3/7/06, Washington Post)

A ring of unscrupulous companies is scamming older Americans and people with disabilities by posing as a legitimate Medicare prescription drug plan. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is calling this scheme the “$299Ring” for the amount of money targets of the scam are typically talked into withdrawing from their checking accounts for the nonexistent drug plan. CMS has received complaints from Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Georgia. People with Medicare are advised to be on the lookout. Legitimate Medicare drug plans will not ask for payment over the telephone or internet (3/7/06, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)

Fifteen States Ask Supreme Court To Intervene in Legal Dispute Over Cost of Medicare Drug Benefit

The suit challenges the so-called "clawback" provision of the drug benefit. Under the provision, Medicare will assume the prescription drug costs for dual eligibles, but states will have to pay the federal government as much as 90% of the estimated amount they would have spent on Medicaid coverage for medications for residents dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The rate will decrease to 75% over time. Fifteen states are mounting a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Medicare “clawback,” which requires states to pay part of the cost of Medicare drug coverage for people with both Medicare and Medicaid. The states contend that “Congress has entered uncharted territory, imposing, for the first time in modern history, a direct tax on the States. No other federal statute conscripts state governments to fund a federal program.” (3/6/06, Kaiser Network.org)

OPINION: GOP says Medicare drug plan will be a plus by November

Remember back in 1998 how it looked as though the HMO and patients' rights issue would turn the political tide for Democrats? (3/4/06, New York Times)

In Medicare Maze, Some Get Tangled in Two Drug Plans

Having struggled to fathom Medicare's new drug coverage, tens of thousands of beneficiaries are perplexed to find themselves actively enrolled in two prescription drug plans at the same time. (3/2/06, New York Times)

Drug Seizures Designed to Force People Into Part D, Says Senator Bill Nelson

Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) released figures yesterday that show US customs officials have secretly seized around 13,000 prescription drug packages from Canada since Medicare Part D went into effect last November. The U.S. Customs Office said it could not confirm Senator Nelson’s numbers, but did say the seizures would continue. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said he doesn't see any political motivation for stepping up the seizures but would like to see the Canadian imports legalized. (3/2/06, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

National Governors Association: Governors Weigh in on Medicaid Changes

Governors expressed guarded optimism that recent changes to Medicaid in the budget reconciliation law could help states curb rising costs. The changes are aimed at giving states more flexibility in their Medicaid programs and allowing increased cost-sharing among certain groups. However, lawmakers at the National Governors Association winter meeting did not endorse further changes proposed by the Bush administration, including a proposed $13.6 billion in savings over five years from a change to the drug reimbursement formula and limits on an accounting practice that some states used to increase the federal share of Medicaid costs. (2/27/06, Congress Daily)

National Governors Association Meeting with Bush Will Raise Medicare Clawback Payments Concerns

The National Governors Association is likely to raise issues regarding "clawback" payments during their meeting with President Bush and his cabinet. Under the 2003 Medicare law, Medicare estimates the prescription drug costs for those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. The states then pay the federal government as much as 90% of the estimated amount for these dual eligibles. Some governors are concerned about clawback payments while covering expenses for prescriptions for dual eligibles experiencing problems getting their medications under the drug benefit. The federal government stated it will reimburse states' expenses related to emergency measures taken to ensure dual eligibles have access to medications. (2/26/06, Associated Press)

Health Insurance and Costs

Research Disputes Whether HSAs Lower Costs and Increase Coverage

President Bush considers health savings accounts "a salve for the nation's ailing health care system" by lowering costs, making patients smarter medical consumers, and making insurance more affordable, reports the Washington Post. However, early studies of and experience with HSAs "do not match the White House's certainty that this recent concept in health insurance" works as promised. (3/12/06, Washington Post)

OPINION: LA Times Columnist Outlines Health Reforms Frist Would Support in a Presidential Bid

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, stepping down from the Senate at the end of the year with an eye to the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is turning his attention to "a fundamental revision of health care." In addition to reshaping Medicare, Frist is "thinking big" on the problem of the nation's 46 million uninsured. (3/12/06, Los Angeles Times)

O'Neill Proposes Expanding Coverage with a Health Insurance Mandate

Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill outlined for senators a health reform proposal that would require all Americans making more than $30,000 a year to purchase catastrophic health coverage for themselves and their families, with the government buying coverage for lower-income people. (3/9/06, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Budget Passed by Senate Committee Drops Bush Expansion of Health Savings Accounts

The Senate Budget Committee approved a "scaled-back version" of President Bush's budget that dropped his proposals for expanding health savings accounts (HSAs) and reining in Medicare spending, reports the Associated Press. (3/9/06, Associated Press)

Grassley Queries AHA on Proposals to Address Charitable Care Concerns

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley requested that AHA provide him with more information on legislative proposals to address his concerns about the need for reforms in areas such as charitable care, charges to the uninsured, and debt collection, among others. Specifically, the letter seeks additional information on proposals related to discounts for the uninsured, a common definition of community benefit, and recommendations for strengthening transparency, governance and accountability in the nonprofit sector. (3/9/06, American Hospital Association NewsNow)

"Covering the Uninsured" is a Flawed Moral Frame

That we Americans should so prodigally spend our common resources for health care (an annual expenditure greater than France's entire Gross Domestic Product) and exclude from this care more U.S. residents than there are citizens in Canada—this is an outrage that demands change. Because this injustice is so outrageous, it can appear to be at the heart of the moral challenge. (March-April, 2006, Health Progress)

Take Your Pills, All Your Pills

Joseph A. Brocato's weekly self-injections of a drug to treat hepatitis C left him so feverish and fatigued, he said, he often thought of quitting. He didn't, thanks to a nurse who urged him by phone to stay the course. The nurse, Colleen Dinsdale, did not work for Mr. Brocato's doctor. Rather, Ms. Dinsdale was paid by the drug's maker, Roche, and its distributor, McKesson. Each month that Mr. Brocato took the drug, Pegasys, and its companion pill, ribavirin, meant $3,000 in sales - most of it paid by his insurance company. His share was a $50 co-payment. (3/12/06, New York Times)

A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients

On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50. On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown, Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was $548.01. Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must take for at least the next six months at a cost that will now total nearly $7,000. (3/12/06, New York Times)

Census Report Foresees No Crisis Over Aging Generation's Health

The next few decades will see an explosion in the percentage of Americans over the age of 65, but the economic and social impact of this baby boomer sunset may be gentler than had been feared because of a significant drop in the percentage of older people with disabilities, a new federal study has concluded. (3/10/06, New York Times)

Pay Method Said to Sway Drug Choices of Oncologists

The way cancer doctors are paid may influence the choice of drugs they use in chemotherapy, a study published yesterday has concluded. (3/8/06, New York Times)

Healthy, Wealthy May Get Most out of Health-Savings Accounts

For some, proposal would create "mother of all tax shelters." President Bush's proposal to expand health-savings accounts, intended to help contain spiraling medical costs, may prove a tax-free boon for the nation's rich. Both supporters and opponents of the proposal said that the enhanced HSAs offer unprecedented tax advantages and may become more attractive than 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts as a way for the richest and healthiest Americans to build savings. The proposal would create "the mother of all tax shelters," said Paul Caron, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. (3/3/06, Bloomberg)

60 Minutes Examines High Hospital Charges to the Uninsured

A "60 Minutes" segment looked at hospital billing practices that charge uninsured patients up to five times as much as they charge an insurance company for equivalent treatment, a practice that leads many uninsured patients into bankruptcy. (3/5/06, 60 Minutes)

OPINION: National Health Reform, not Employer Mandates, Is Needed

Legislating that Wal-Mart and other big companies provide their workers with health insurance is "arbitrary and unfair," according to a Los Angeles Times editorial that contends employer mandates do not work because companies make up for higher health care costs with reduced salaries or increased prices. (3/2/06, Los Angeles Times)

Dunkin’ Donuts Creates a Health Insurance Program Aimed at Small Franchises

Dunkin' Donuts, which has been criticized for not offering sufficient health benefits to its workers, has established a "groundbreaking" insurance plan for its franchises, reports the Boston Herald.

(3/1/06, Boston Herald)

Budget at Odds with Bush Health-Clinic Plan

President Bush says he wants to dramatically increase the number of community health centers -- government-funded clinics that provide basic health care. But a new study suggests that goal could be threatened if the administration carries out plans to cut funding for the training programs that provide the doctors who actually deliver the care. (3/1/06, NPR)

Free Clinics Pop Up to Deal with Uninsured

After Rick Sawyer had a heart attack last year, he suddenly found himself in one of life's most frightening predicaments. The 60-year-old from Scotia, N.Y., was staring down a huge stack of hospital bills and had no health insurance for the first time in his life. He soon became one of the growing cross section of racial and economic demographics turning to free clinics for medical care. (2/18/06, Associated Press)

Other Health Issues

U.S. health care mediocre across the board

Startling research from the biggest study ever of U.S. health care quality suggests that Americans - rich, poor, black, white - get roughly equal treatment, but it's woefully mediocre for all. (3/15/06, Associated Press)

Virtual Medical Checkups on the Rise

Wayne Wilson is cheered when the computerized voice tells him his blood pressure and heart rate are holding steady. (3/12/06, Associated Press)

Vital Signs: Behavior: Coupons Lure Young Smokers, Research Suggests

New research suggests that tobacco companies' efforts to lure smokers through special promotions are paying off. (3/7/06, New York Times)

Return to Top

HEALTH ADVOCACY RESOURCES

March 17, 2006

Note: New Resources are posted at the beginning of each section below.

FLORIDA CHAIN WEBSITE RESOURCES UPDATE

GRANTS

ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES

MANUALS, GUIDES, AND TOOLKITS

TECHNOLOGY AND AUDIO VISUAL RESOURCES

Audioconferences and Webcasts

Media Programming

Web Sites, Web Features

Videos

PERIODICALS

REPORTS AND STUDIES

New Listings

Florida Reports

Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

Health Insurance, Health Costs, Healthcare Reform, Budget

Other Health Issues

FLORIDA CHAIN WEB SITE RESOURCE UPDATE

The Florida CHAIN web site now includes resource information in Spanish. To access, click here.

GRANTS

Florida Breast Cancer Coalition Research Foundation Education Grants
Letters of Intent postmark deadline: March 24, 2006

These grants allocate funds, received through the sale of the Florida End Breast Cancer specialty license plate, to Florida nonprofit organizations with an historic interest in providing life-saving health information to Florida residents.

2006 Regional Community Health Grants Program
Deadline: March 31, 2006
Aetna will award up to $2.9 million for philanthropic initiatives focused on health care issues. In all proposal categories, priority consideration will be given to programs that serve racially and ethnically diverse populations and enhance access to quality health information and quality health care.

National Association of Hispanic Nurses Education and Service Awards
Deadline: April 15, 2006
The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) announced the following two awards: 1) Ildaura Murillo-Rohde Award for Education Excellence and 2) Henrietta Villaescusa Community Service Award. Eligible applicants include Hispanic Nurses who are NHN members. Applicants for the Education award should have distinguished themselves in scholarship and nursing education. Applicants for the Service award should have contributed to the improvement of health in the Hispanic community.

Community Dentistry Award

Deadline: May 15, 2006

The American Dental Association's Council on Access, Prevention, and Interprofessional Relations is now accepting entries for its 2006 Community Dentistry Award. Not-for-profit programs in the United States or its territories are eligible. The Community Dentistry Award recognizes programs that focus on improving oral health at the community level. The program is designed to foster and recognize community oral health programs that include a preventive dentistry component.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- Local Initiative Funding Partners

Deadline: July 6, 2006 (Stage I)

Local Initiative Funding Partners (LIFP) is a partnership program between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grantmakers to fund projects to improve the health and health care of vulnerable people in their communities. Projects must be new, innovative, collaborative and community based, and must be nominated by a local grantmaker interested in participating as a funding partner. Up to $6 million in funding is available for 14 matching grants of $200,000 to $500,000. Eligible applicants are local funding partners, including independent and private foundations, family and community foundations, and corporate and other philanthropies.

2006 Regional Community Health Grants Program

The Aetna Foundation will fund philanthropic initiatives focused on the following health care issues: Childhood Health, Obesity (including diabetes)and Oral Health, and Depression.

American Heart Association, Clinton Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Help Schools Create a Healthier Environment for Nation's Students

Applications for the program will be available beginning July 1, 2006

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has announced a new collaboration with schools to create environments that foster healthy lifestyles and prevent overweight and obesity among students. The Alliance works to address the issues that contribute to childhood obesity and to inspire all young Americans to develop lifelong healthy habits. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded the Alliance $8 million to support the Healthy Schools Program.

ORGANZATIONS AND SERVICES

Medicare Rights Center (MRC) is a comprehensive independent source of health care information and assistance for older adults and people with disabilities. Multiple services include: a telephone hotline; a database of case advice; education and training; public policy work; and communications with local and national media outlets. Electronic newsletters include the weekly Dear Marci featuring basic health tips, Medicare coverage advice, health plan reminders, and links to internet health care resources; and biweekly Medicare Watch with up-to-date health care policy news and changes in Medicare benefits and rules, Medicare Q&As and hotline cases. Publications include:

Questions to Ask when Considering a Medicare Health Plan Help for those looking into joining or switching Medicare private health plans.

What do I need to know about the new drug benefit if I am in a Medicare HMO or other private health plan? Details about options for those in a Medicare private plan.

Medicare: A National Treasure for 40 Years Simple statistics to show that the Original Medicare program costs this country less than private health insurance. According to public data made available by the government on the Medicare web site, the administrative expense of the Original Medicare program accounts for only 3 percent of Medicare spending. In comparison, private insurance companies funnel 13 percent of every premium dollar toward administration, marketing and profit.

The Long-Term Care Champions Network is seeking to raise public awareness on this important issue, and needs your help. There is no cost to join the Champions Network; they just want to hear your story. If we continue to let Congress ignore this issue, our financial and health security could be jeopardized. For more information, click here.

The National Hispanic Resource Help-Line 1/800-473-3003 provides support for Latinos throughout the nation who need information about educational, health and human service providers. They provide early intervention and resource support for people in times of personal and family crisis through education, referrals, affirmation, advocacy, collaborative planning and problem solving. To become part of their database, click here.

MANUALS, GUIDES, TOOLKITS

Families USA is offering a new resource, Making Public Programs Work for Communities of Color: An Action Kit for Community Leaders, from its Minority Health Initiatives Department. The kit provides community leaders with information, tools, and resources to engage in health advocacy and improve the health and well being of their communities. Emphasizing the importance of public programs in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, the kit contains: a summary and statistics of racial and ethnic health disparities and the role public programs can play in reducing them; an overview of Medicaid (and SCHIP) and Medicare, including their relationships to communities of color; fact sheets on improving health coverage for racial and ethnic minority groups; state and local case studies on health advocacy; advocacy tools including a powerpoint presentation, and lists of organizations and publications. Contact: 202/628-3030 or rpanares@familiesusa.org.

2005-2006 Marketing and Public Relations Tool Kit now available

Healthy Kids asks users to please forward updates on items used, including how they were used, numbers distributed and feedback on effectiveness. Call center staff need to be aware of any efforts so they know which items are out in each community and are prepared to address questions. To make changes or additions to any design or use the trademarked logos or phone numbers, prior approval is required to ensure that accurate information is distributed. Send requests to floyda@healthykids.org or fax to 850/224-0615.

Health Literacy Fact Sheets

This series of nine fact sheets was created for those who are designing patient education materials for consumers with low health literacy skills. The sheets define health literacy, describe its impact on health outcomes, provide strategies to prepare appropriate educational materials to assist low-literate consumers, and provide resources for additional health literacy information and publications.

Learning Resource Center at the Public Health Foundation

This newly designed site allows the user to keep track of orders with a personalized account, tell a colleague about a book or video, sign up to receive notices of new products, and write reviews. Notable materials include Spanish for the Healthcare Worker--Beginning and Intermediate.

The Schooled in Asthma Web site now offers a wide range of free tools & resources. The site is a project of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) with funding from the CDC to develop, implement, and evaluate a training program encouraging pediatricians to incorporate evidence-based asthma management guidelines with school health concepts and practices.

The Medicaid Matters web site is a resource for people working across the country to protect Medicaid, the health insurance that 50 million rely on. It stores a ready-to-use toolkit of messages, materials and dissemination ideas. Users are able to download, at no cost, tested messages emphasizing the importance of Medicaid and the threat now facing the program. Messages are enhanced by high quality, full color photography. One set of materials is designed to be ready to print. Once downloaded, they can be forwarded to any print house or copy shop without any further formatting. The second set of materials is designed so that components of the product can be adapted to suit the needs of that organization or constituency that wishes to use them.

Turning the Tide: Why Acting on Inequity Can Help Reduce Chronic Diseases, a tool kit now available from the Public Health Agency of Canada's Atlantic Regional Office, is designed to support the use of the document, The Tides of Change: Addressing Inequity and Chronic Disease in Atlantic Canada; A Discussion Paper. The package was produced for use by community organizations in examining their work and policies and contains a variety of hands-on resources for use in presentations and group discussions.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched a Spanish version of their online nutrition guide, MyPyramid: Steps to a Healthier You. MiPirámide: Pasos Hacia Una Mejor Salud to make it easier for Spanish-speaking Americans to access information about healthy lifestyles and to personalize that information for their own benefit.

A Spanish translation of the Resource Guide to Mental Health Services of Palm Beach County is now available. The guide, published by the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Palm Beach County, provides information to mentally ill persons and their families and is being distributed to people in the Hispanic community who need it. For more information, call NAMI at 561/588-3477.

Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace is an online chartbook that presents up-to-date information on key health care marketplace trends. The chartbook highlights national health expenditures, health care spending and costs, employee and retiree health coverage, HMO enrollment, hospital data, and public views on topics such as managed care, medical errors, and quality information.

APA Help Center Now Offers Psychology Materials in Spanish

Access free Spanish language materials on mental health issues at the American Psychological Association's (APA) online help center.

My Bright Future Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Guide for Adult Women

US Department of Health and Human Services' HRSA guide

Health Literacy Style Manual

The Covering Kids & Families (CKF) National Program Office at the Southern Institute on Children and Families commissioned the MAXIMUS Center for Health Literacy to develop The Health Literacy Style Manual. The report is a resource for developing and improving applications, notices and other print materials related to government programs. It includes examples from real programs and can be used to make materials more client-centered, increasing consumers’ capacity to find and understand health information and services and to make informed health-related decisions.

TECHNOLOGY AND AUDIO/VIDEO RESOURCES

Audio Conferences and Webcasts

Telephonic Health Coaching: How It Can Improve Your Population Health Management Programs

April 5, 2006 -- 1:30-3:00 p.m. (EST)

This audio conference will take an in-depth look at telephonic health coaching programs, from program structure to call strategies to outcomes measurement and results. Health coaching programs can help individuals in need of care management services take a more active and effective role in the management of their own healthcare. Telephonic health coaching services, while unique in its challenges, provides a convenient way to offer accessible health coaching services.

Acts of Charity: Charity Care Strategies for Hospitals in a Changing Landscape
April 20, 2006 Based on a survey and other analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, this ACHI audio conference will convey up-to-date information about the fast-moving subject of charity care in the context of community benefit. Join it to learn about the current state of practice, and to hear and discuss recommended strategies.

The Causes and Policy Implications of Rising Health Care Spending
Webcast of panelists at this Brookings Institution event discussing President Bush's health care policies that will expand the use of health savings accounts in an effort to place more responsibility on individuals.

Dental Care Access and Prevention Strategies

May 18, 2006 ACHI audio conference

Operation Access: Providing Donated Outpatient Surgery to Uninsured People

June 15, 2006 ACHI audio conference

Media Programming

Connect with Kids TV Program on Obesity Prevention

Connect with Kids, with CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, and Florida’s Department of Health have developed a 30-minute television program focusing on the obesity epidemic among youth. The program, titled “The Biggest Generation” will be available for airing nationwide beginning March 15, 2006. To see when the stations have scheduled the show, click here and then click on the upcoming programs link at the bottom of the page. If your local station is not listed and you are interested in promoting the program to your local television station, call 404/459-8081 ext 105.

Web Sites, Web Features & Databases

Statehealthfacts.org provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data on all 50 states, covering more than 500 health topics. Recent updates include: Medicare Part D Enrollment and Low-Income Subsidy Applications; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare drug benefit status of Medicare beneficiaries as of 2/11/06, and the number of applicants determined eligible for a low-income subsidy that provides additional assistance with premiums and cost-sharing as of 1/27/06.

Medicaid Fact Sheets Tool

Compare your state's Medicaid program and the population it serves to other states and the nation by visiting Kaiser's new interactive online State Medicaid Fact Sheets tool.

Healthy Teen Network Launches New Website and Members Only Section

On March 1, Healthy Teen Network launched its new website which provides the public with a comprehensive array of resources and research, and offers its members exclusive access to current and archived publications, electronic newsletters, recent funding opportunity announcements, workshop and other presentation materials, special promotions and more. Healthy Teen Network is the only national membership network that serves as a leader, a national voice, and an educational resource to professionals working in the area of adolescent reproductive health – specifically teen pregnancy prevention, pregnancy and

Medicare/Medically Needy Poster for Clinics

Florida Transplant Survivors Coalition, Inc. offers on their website a poster suitable for posting in clinics, Pharmacies and other centers where the Medicare/ Medically Needy benefit recipient visits. Since the 20% copay in cancer and anti-rejections drugs is still not part of any state plan to aid us, all are encouraged to download this poster.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Part-D Resources

CMS fact sheet that addresses Medicare Part D and homeless clients

Recently revised "Medicare Basics: A Guide for Families and Friends of People with Medicare," CMS publication # 11034. This document provides direct-to-consumer information needed to make or guide Medicare-related health care decisions, e.g. Medicare drug coverage, choosing a nursing home, etc. Click here for this and other resources for Medicare patient caregivers.

New Fact Sheet for Physicians on Part-D Transition Policy and Exceptions and Appeals Processes Other resources for physicians are listed on the provider section of the CMS web site where physician offices will find phone numbers to the plan’s coverage determination telephone lines, as well as copies of model forms that will help streamline and expedite the process.

DCF Offers Medicare Part D Information of Particular Interest to Persons with Mental Illness

Florida Department of Children and Families has made available powerpoint presentations used on a December 2 Video Teleconference sponsored by the Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Florida National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The first is an overview of the new Medicare Part D (pharmacy benefit), the second about Medicare pharmacy plans and the third about steps for low income Medicare beneficiaries to get extra help from Social Security in paying for pharmacy benefits. Information is also available on the Appeals and coverage determinations policy, CMS policy on helping persons who are full dual eligibles but have not been auto-enrolled in a Part D pharmacy plan, CMS strategy on dual eligibles "first fill" expectations. Other portals link to the CMS website for information about the Medicare Part D pharmacy plans, benefits and how to enroll in them; and a Social Security website for low income persons who have Medicare ONLY and need to apply for extra help in paying for Part D pharmacy benefits. The Florida SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elderly) program is a statewide, volunteer based program that provides free information, counseling and assistance on Medicare (including Part D), Medicaid and Medicare supplemental insurance. SHINE can be accessed at 1-800-963-5337.

Website Offers Free 24 Hour Health Information to Floridians to address concerns and inquiries

The Florida Department of Health (DOH) Secretary encourages health care consumers to visit www.FLHealthSource.com whenever they need information about a licensed health care professional. DOH’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA) maintains FLHealthSource.com. The site provides health care consumers with a host of information, including license status, office address, and disciplinary information for all health care professionals licensed in Florida.

The site also provides additional information for the five profiled professions –medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, chiropractic physicians, podiatric physicians and advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs).

Florida Kids insurance application can be done online

Families wanting to apply for the state's health insurance program for children can now apply online. Florida Healthy Kids has redesigned its Web site at www.healthykids.org to allow people to apply electronically for the KidCare programs, which include Healthy Kids, Children's Medical Services and MediKids. (2/16/06, Daytona News-Journal) More

Interactive Tools on Medicaid

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured presents the State Medicaid Fact Sheets and the Medicaid Benefits Online Database, two interactive tools featuring the latest key data, information and services provided for each state’s Medicaid program. Both tools allow for easy access to the data which can then be printed, saved and emailed.

2006 Federal Poverty Guidelines

The Southern Institute on Children and Families, National Program Office for Covering Kids & Families has made available the 2006 Federal Poverty Guidelines. Compiled from the 2006 HHS Poverty Guidelines, these guidelines provide income levels for families at 50%, 100%, 125%, 133%, 150%, 185% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Primer on Low-Income Working Families

Many low-income working families live one health crisis or job setback away from catastrophe. Some barely make ends meet despite "playing by the rules," and more than 9 million working families with children lead this precarious existence. Yet, we know little about their dynamics. This Urban Institute web feature provides a foundation for better understanding this at-risk population.

Florida Progressive Information Network (FLPIN)

offers a nonpartisan communication system designed to link progressive organizers with progressive activists. Individuals may sign up free of charge to receive alerts on a variety of progressive issues from other organizations participating in the Network. In order to make FLPIN work, it must be used on a regular basis. The more information put in, the more valuable it is as a tool. Link FLPIN to organization websites. A training manual is at www.flpin.net/alert.pdf. For more information or assistance, contact jen@floridahumanist.org

Healthcare Coverage Options Database: Assistance for Obtaining Health Coverage: This Web site provides information on health insurance options for low-income U.S. residents. The site includes comprehensive information on large-scale programs like Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and the federal Health Care Tax Credit Program, as well as hundreds of smaller state, federal, and private programs.

Ask Me 3

Learn about Health Literacy and its impact on patients. This website also provides the three most important questions that consumers should ask their doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.

Videos

Public Health Foundation Media Resources

Several publications and videos related to minority health are now available through the Public Health Foundation's (PHF) online bookstore. Topics include: breastfeeding promotion in minority communities, epidemiology of diabetes, social determinants of health, neighborhoods and health disparities, as well as introductory Spanish for the healthcare worker. For a full list of resources on minority health, go to PHF's Learning Resource Center, click here.

PERIODICALS

Childhood Obesity Issue of Princeton/Brookings Future of Children Journal

The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution are pleased to announce the release of the newest volume of their jointly published journal, The Future of Children, Childhood Obesity. This issue features nine articles on the high and rising rates of overweight and obesity among U.S. children, presenting evidence on the multiple causes, consequences, and methods of dealing with the growing problem.

Kaiser Family Foundation is writing a weekly Medicare Q&A column that is being distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News. The column answers questions from readers related to the new Medicare drug benefit.

The National Center for Health Education (NCHE) has posted its March/April '06 Volume 5, Issue 2 of the NCHE Growing Healthy Youth, Parents and Communities (YPC) newsletter. You’ll also find activities for students, current health research, heath education resources, funding opportunities, upcoming events, and NCHE news.

REPORTS AND STUDIES

New Listings

Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 Budget is Likely still to Leave SCHIP Coverage for Low-Income Children in Jeopardy

This report finds that the Administration’s budget proposal will fall short of fully funding states’ needs for SCHIP funding in 2007 — and could lead more than 200,000 children to go without SCHIP coverage next year.

Updated Fact Sheet on Medicaid's Role for Dual Eligibles

The Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) has updated a fact sheet on Medicaid's role in providing care to dual eligibles, low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and the transitioning of their prescription drug coverage from Medicaid to the new Medicare drug benefit.

Medicaid Provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released this issue brief summarizing the Medicaid policy changes of the recently signed budget reconciliation law and discussing the potential impact for states and beneficiaries.

Medicaid Spending and Enrollment

Updated data on Medicaid spending and enrollment from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured based on analysis of CMS data for FY2002 are now available by state and region. Total payments for all enrollment groups - children, adults, elderly, and individuals with disabilities - and payments per enrollee have been updated. Total enrollment in Medicaid and the distribution of enrollees by group have also been updated and are available by state and region.

The Transition of Dual Eligibles to Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage: State Actions During Implementation
This Kaiser Family Foundation publication is a survey of Medicaid officials assesses states' early experience relating to the transition of low-income seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare (dual eligibles) to the Medicare Part D drug benefit. The survey covers the types of problems observed by states during the transition of dual eligibles to the Medicare drug benefit, state actions to correct problems and ensure temporary coverage, and specific data on costs incurred by states from these temporary programs.

Turning Medicaid Beneficiaries into Purchasers of Health Care: Critical Success Factors for Medicaid Consumer-Directed Health Purchasing This State Coverage Initiative Issue Brief finds state policymakers interested in applying the concepts of consumer-directed care to the Medicaid program. Various models to give Medicaid beneficiaries more control of their health spending are emerging. These reforms fundamentally would alter the role of the state, the state’s expectations of Medicaid beneficiaries, and the behavior of every participant in the system. Depending on their design, consumer-directed health purchasing programs would create new opportunities and risks for Medicaid beneficiaries.

Social Determinants of Health and Nursing: A Summary of the Issues
It is well-established that poorer people have substantially shorter life expectancies and This Canadian civil service study compared the health status of individuals over time with their position in a well-defined job hierarchy. Those lower in the hierarchy experienced three times the risk of death from heart disease, stroke, cancer, gastrointestinal disease, accident and suicide compared with those at the top of the hierarchy.

Grading State Systems for Adults with Serious Mental Illness
A National Alliance on Mental Illness report grades each state's public mental health system for adults with serious mental illness, and assigns the nation an overall grade of D. The report grades states on 39 criteria in the areas of infrastructure, information access, services and recovery based on a survey of state mental health agencies last October and November.

Stretching the Safety Net to Serve Undocumented Immigrants
A small but increasing proportion of immigrants to the United States is undocumented. This Health System Change Issue Brief found that because most undocumented immigrants lack health insurance, they primarily rely on safety net providers for care. Communities with more developed safety nets and historically large numbers of immigrants appear more adept at caring for both legal and undocumented immigrants.

Study Reveals Prolonged Effectiveness of Early Intervention Program

Improvements in cognitive and behavioral development evident into adolescence

An 18-year follow-up study of the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), published in the March 2006 issue of Pediatrics, provides the best evidence to date of the sustained, positive effects of early educational intervention on children's long-term outcomes. This large, multi-site, randomized trial expands on earlier investigations—that were smaller and more limited in scope—to support the value of early intervention programs and the need to extend educational enrichment activities to a broader range of children. (3/6/06, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

Dimensions of the Local Health Care Environment and Use of Care by Uninsured Children in Rural and Urban Areas Despite concerted policy efforts, a sizeable percentage of children lack health insurance coverage. This article examines the impact of the health care safety net and health care market structure on the use of health care by uninsured children [and concludes that U]ninsured children had low levels of utilization over a range of different health care provider types and settings. (3/06, Pediatrics)

Can States Stretch the Medicaid Dollar without Passing the Buck? Lessons from Utah

With the recent enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, states have gained increased flexibility over benefits and cost sharing for certain currently eligible Medicaid populations without having to obtain a waiver of Medicaid rules. New findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2004 survey of the experiences of Medicaid beneficiaries under Utah's 2002 waiver provide insights into the implications of limited benefits for the low-income population. The results are featured in the March/April edition of the journal Health Affairs. (3/7/06, Kaiser Family Foundation)

Taking a Checkup on the Nation's Health Care Tax Policy: A Prognosis

In Senior Fellow Leonard E. Burman's statement before the United States Senate Committee on Finance, he summarizes the latest data on who has health insurance and who doesn't, outlines the various tax subsidies that exist for health insurance, examines how those subsidies affect the market for health insurance and employment, and briefly comments on some reform options. (3/8/06, Urban Institute)

Florida Reports

Florida KidCare’s web site now has these two reports for pdf download: Florida KidCare Statewide Enrollment Trend, Title XXI Enrollment and Major Program Changes.

Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

Families USA Report on Medicaid Part D

This latest report found that the vast majority of new Medicare Part D beneficiaries already had prescription drug coverage before the program started earlier this year and, in an effort to downplay this situation, the Administration has significantly lowered its own enrollment projections. You can read the full report or a press release announcing the report.

Selected Findings on Seniors' Views of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

This poll finds that 45% of seniors say they have enrolled or plan to enroll in a drug plan, 29% say they do not intend to enroll in a drug plan and another 23% say they are uncertain. The majority of those who do not plan to enroll say they have another program or plan that helps pay for their prescriptions.Though more seniors are enrolling in a drug plan each month, the poll also shows that seniors have become less enthusiastic about the new Medicare drug benefit over the past six months. Seniors are now almost twice as likely to say they view the benefit unfavorably (45%) as favorably (23%). That finding reflects a shift since August, when seniors’ positive views peaked and they were as likely to view the benefit favorably (32%) as unfavorably (32%). (2/17/2006, Kaiser Family Foundation)

New State-By-State Data on Medicaid and SCHIP's Success in Reducing the Coverage Gap for Children

Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families reports the surprisingly positive trends in coverage for children, largely due to Medicaid (and to a lesser extent, its smaller companion program, SCHIP), that provide affordable health insurance coverage to children in low-income families. However, there is significant variation across the states. The Center analyzed trends in the uninsured rate of all children low-income children since 1996/1997, the era when states aggressively began improving coverage. Tables Methodology

Is Technological Change In Medicine Always Worth It?

This report examines Medicare costs and survival gains for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during 1986-2002. As before, researchers found that overall gains in post-AMI survival more than justified the increases in costs during this period. Since 1996, however, survival gains have stagnated, while spending has continued to increase. Regions experiencing the largest spending gains were not those realizing the greatest improvements in survival. Factors yielding the greatest benefits to health were not the factors that drove up costs, and vice versa. (2/7/06, Health Affairs)

Medicare Modernization Act: An Early Look at Medicare Drug Plan Options for Connecticut’s Medicare Beneficiaries states, “For example, four of the ten ‘worst’ plans for the person with schizophrenia did a better-than-average job covering the medications of the prototype senior. As such, the review highlights that the best plan for an individual often is a highly specific function of the particular medication needs” (CT Health Fdn., Dec. 2005)

Quality of care in for-profit and not-for-profit health plans enrolling Medicare beneficiaries, a recent Harvard study in the Dec. 2005 American Journal of Medicine, found that enrollees in Medicare + Choice for-profit health plans received significantly lower-quality care than those in not-for-profit Medicare + Choice plans in all four areas examined: breast cancer screenings, diabetic eye exams, beta-blockers administered after heart attack, and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness, even after adjustment for socio-economic, demographic and health plan variations. (Medicare + Choice was renamed Medicare Advantage in 2004).

A special report on Medicaid, by the Pew Center on the States, seeks to analyze the real-world experiences of states, highlight examples of what works and what doesn't, and inform a crucial policy debate that will affect the lives of millions of Americans. Federal policy has encouraged enrollment of Medicare beneficiaries in health plans, the majority of which are for-profit plans.

In Quality of care in for-profit and not-for-profit health plans enrolling Medicare beneficiaries, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harvard Medical School report their findings that not-for-profit health plans provided significantly higher quality of care to enrollees than for-profit plans on four important clinical services; breast cancer screening, diabetic eye examination, beta-blocker medication after heart attack and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness.

Mathematica gives good marks in its report to Congress on the State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIPs) that offer health care coverage to children in families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level and beyond. In almost all areas examined – outreach, enrollment and access to services – the programs are succeeding. In the 10 states studied, programs were put in place quickly, and overall, families were satisfied with the ease of enrolling children, many of whom remained enrolled for 12 months, depending on the state.

Most studies of health coverage expansion policies focus on their potential national impact. Variations in the Impact of Health Coverage Expansion Proposals across States finds that federal strategies have greatly varied effects on different states. This report examines the variability among states with regard to economic characteristics, health care markets, and numbers of uninsured.

Some contend that Medicaid has stretched beyond its original purpose of providing a safety net for the poor and has evolved into an asset shelter for the rich. Medicaid’s Coverage of Nursing Home Costs: Asset Shelter for the Wealthy or Essential Safety Net? reviews the empirical evidence and finds that asset transfers are not significant contributors to Medicaid costs now, and implementing policies designed to further limit them is unlikely to significantly reduce Medicaid costs.

Beginning in January 2006, open enrollment period limitations (also known as enrollment lock-in provisions) will restrict the number of times (and the times of the year) that Medicare beneficiaries can change health plans. Estimating Medicare Advantage Lock-In Provisions Impact on Vulnerable Medicare Beneficiaries examines Medicare managed care enrollment and disenrollment of vulnerable beneficiaries from 1999 to 2001 to estimate the impact of these upcoming restrictions.

Beginning in 2006, 42 million elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries will have access to prescription drug coverage through Part D of the Medicare program, including an estimated 14.4 million beneficiaries who will be eligible for low-income subsidies. Low-Income Assistance under the Medicare Drug Benefit provides an overview of the drug benefit and the low-income subsidies, including participation and eligibility.

With discussions on restructuring Medicaid occurring in state capitols and Washington, DC, two new reports provide the latest data on how much of Medicaid's spending is used to cover mandatory versus optional populations and services. The issue paper, Medicaid: An Overview of Spending on "Mandatory" vs. "Optional" Populations and Services, offers a brief summary of the data and a discussion of the practical implications of policy changes. The background report, "Medicaid Enrollment and Spending by ‘Mandatory’ and ‘Optional’ Eligibility and Benefit Categories” (same page) offers a more detailed examination of the methodology and results.

Financing for the nation’s health care safety net is fragmented, and providers must knit together resources from many different funding sources to cover the costs of providing a broad range of services. Stresses to the Safety Net: The Public Hospital Perspective describes those sources of revenue, documenting that nearly 40 percent of all safety net revenues come from Medicaid.

Over the past few years, a number of states have implemented new or increased existing out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries in their Medicaid, SCHIP, or other public programs. Increasing Premiums and Cost Sharing in Medicaid and SCHIP: Recent State Experiences reviews the key findings from this activity, including the impact on enrollment in public coverage programs, on providers, and on access to care.

In January 2006, Medicare will begin providing coverage for outpatient prescription drugs, and many low-income beneficiaries will have to meet both an income and asset test to receive assistance. Low-Income Subsidies for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: The Impact of the Asset Test estimates that in 2006, 2.37 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries will not qualify for subsidized coverage because they will fail the asset test. The report also examines how the low-income asset test works and the characteristics of people likely to be excluded.

Health Insurance, Health Costs, Healthcare Reform, Budget

The Health Disparities Myth: Diagnosing the Treatment Gap

A new monograph from the American Enterprise Institute found no evidence to support the idea that racially biased doctors are a cause of poor minority health. According to the researchers the charge of bias is divisive and siphons energy and resources from efforts to improve minority health, such as expanding access to high-quality care and facilitating changes in individuals' lifestyles and their capacity to manage chronic disease. For the authors, a true public health solution to inadequate care would focus resources on improving the quality of care and self-care regardless of race.

12 Schools and Graduate Programs of Public Health Selected for Engaged Institutions Initiative Focused on Eliminating Health Disparities

Despite major advances in health care and health status in the 21st century, disparities persist between whites and people of color - creating one of the most pressing social justice issues facing America today. Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) will work collaboratively and intensively with teams from 12 schools and graduate programs of public health as they develop and implement strategic action plans to become fully engaged institutions focused on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities.

New ACHI community benefit policy documents available for download

The Association for Community Health Improvement has posted several new documents from a number of hospitals and health systems participating in the Public Health Institute's Advancing the State of the Art in Community Benefit program. Hospitals' community benefit policies, charters for community benefit advisory committees, guidance for community benefit job descriptions and more are categorized under the headings Governance/Decision Making, Management, and Operations.

Administration Defense of Health Savings Accounts Rests on Misleading Use of Statistics

This brief report from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines three specific claims regarding Health Savings Accounts that the President and other Administration officials have made in recent days.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recent Budget Analysis reports:

Program Cuts in the President’s Budget: Cuts Grow Deeper Over Time and Will Hit States Hard

The President's budget proposes substantial cuts in funding for domestic discretionary programs over the next five years. The budget specifies the funding level for each program in 2007, but the levels for specific programs for years after 2007 — the years in which the overall level of reductions in domestic discretionary programs would grow substantially — are hard to discern from the budget documents the Administration released publicly. This analysis uses Administration materials that were not widely distributed — including a key Office of Management and Budget (OMB) computer run that apparently was released inadvertently — to show the multi-year impact of the proposed cuts on a number of important domestic discretionary programs. Summary or Full Report with program cuts by state.

The Skewed Benefits of Tax Cuts 2007-2016: If the Tax Cuts Are Extended, Millionaires Will Receive More than $600 Billion over the Next Decade
Under current law, nearly all of the tax cuts enacted since 2001 are slated to expire by the end of 2010. The President's budget calls for making most of these tax cuts permanent. The enacted tax cuts and their extension carry a large cost. This analysis examines how the large sums involved would be distributed among different income groups.

The Cost and Coverage Impact of the President’s Health Insurance Budget Proposals finds that the Administration's proposals to expand tax breaks for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) would cause a net increase in the number of uninsured Americans. Press Release Full Report

Analysis of Medicaid Provisions in the Bush Administration 2007 Budget explains how most of the provisions in the budget, which include both legislative proposals and regulatory changes that the Administration is planning to make without legislative action, will shift Medicaid costs to the state: net federal Medicaid funding cuts equal to $14 billion over the next five years and $35.5 billion over ten years. These funding cuts are on top of the significant federal Medicaid cuts ($4.9 billion over five years and $26.5 billion over ten years) enacted as part of the budget reconciliation bill signed into law on February 8.

The Administration’s Medicaid Proposals Would Shift Federal Costs to States finds that more than four-fifths of the Medicaid savings proposals in the Administration’s new budget would reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by shifting costs directly to the states. The proposals would save the federal government $35 billion over the next decade, most of which would represent new costs for states. That likely would lead some states to scale back their Medicaid programs significantly by restricting eligibility and reducing coverage. Full Report Press Release

Hidden Budget Cuts in Domestic Programs Found in OMB Computer Files Withheld From Public; documents provided by the Office of Management and Budget omitted information about proposed funding levels for discretionary programs after 2007. But these proposal cuts for 2008-2011 — against which the cuts proposed for 2007 pale by comparison — have now come to light. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has assembled information on the proposed cuts (or increases) for all domestic program categories for years from 2008-2011, using Administration computer runs that were not widely distributed and a series of tables scattered throughout the OMB budget documents. In addition, a key OMB computer run detailing proposed program-by-program cuts for discretionary programs for each year after 2007 — which the Administration never intended to release — has surfaced. A key finding from this computer run, other OMB documents, and the Center's analysis of them is that many programs that would be cut only slightly in 2007 (or even expanded) would face significant cuts in 2008-2011.

President Greatly Reduced his Health Proposals for Lower-Income Families while Expanding Health Benefits for the More Affluent finds that the size of the health tax proposal for lower-income households has been scaled back by two-thirds from last year, while the health tax proposals disproportionately benefiting high-income households have more than quadrupled in size.

Federal Grants to States and Localities Cut Deeply in Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget, with state-by-state rankings, finds that the new budget continues to significantly erode grants to state and local governments. This leaves states and localities the option of either curtailing services or increasing their own taxes to compensate for declining federal funds.

New Congressional Budget Office Estimates Indicate Millions of Low-Income Beneficiaries Would Be Harmed by Medicaid Provisions in Budget Bill This analysis of just-released Congressional Budget Office data finds that the bill's Medicaid changes would: 1) increase co-payments and premiums, 2) allow states to reduce health care services, and 3) establish highly restrictive asset-transfer rules for people needing nursing home care.

The President's Budget: A Preliminary Analysis

The 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) are now available on AHRQ's Web Site. The 2005 NHQR is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. The 2005 NHDR tracks disparities in both quality of and access to health care in the United States for both the general population and for congressionally designated priority populations.

Health and Well-Being of Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005

The National Survey of Children's Health, conducted (by the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC) for the first time in 2003, addresses multiple state and national aspects of child health as well as aspects of the family and the neighborhood that can affect children's health.

Low-Income Children in the United States: National and State Trend Data, 1994-2004

After nearly a decade of decline, the number of children living in low-income families has been steadily increasing since 2000. This data book provides national and 50-state trend data on the characteristics of low-income children over the past decade: parental education, parental employment, marital status, family structure, race and ethnicity, age distribution, parental nativity, home ownership, residential mobility, type of residential area, and region of residence.

Health Care Reform: 2006 Perspectives

In his annual address to the nation, President Bush outlined a number of health reform strategies. The Commonwealth Fund-supported research provides perspective on approaches to addressing the issues of health care costs, quality and coverage, and details promising innovations to help the U.S. move toward a truly high-performance health care system.

Kaiser Health Poll Report: Findings on 2006 State of the Union Address and Health Care

A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines what the public took away from President Bush's State of the Union address, finding that the health messages in the speech have yet to register with most Americans. Despite extensive news coverage both before and after the speech giving information about the President's proposals for expanding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), seventy-one percent of

Cover California's Kids: Three New Reports Highlight Optimal Outreach and Enrollment Strategies

New research finds that while California has made strides in expanding health coverage to children of low-income families, improving the confusing and onerous enrollment process of health insurance programs is needed to reach the significant number of kids who remain uninsured. The Path to Accessing Health Coverage finds that more uninsured kids would have health coverage if there were a single point of entry for children who may be eligible for different health programs for low-income children. Reaching Out and Reaching In: Understanding Efforts to Identify and Enroll Uninsured Children into Health Insurance Programs examines and assesses the different methods used to identify and enroll kids in health coverage programs, recommending that a variety of outreach methods and strategies are needed. Increasing Enrollment and Retention in Children's Health Insurance Programs Through Trained Assistors finds that a standardized, comprehensive approach to training would improve the ability of Certified Application Assistors (CAAs) to help parents get and keep their kids enrolled in public health coverage programs. adults have not heard the term "health savings account."

State of the States: Finding Their Own Way on Health Coverage, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program that works with states to expand health insurance coverage, today issued its latest annual "State of the States" report, summarizing strategies states are implementing or considering to expand health coverage.

The Center for American Progress and American Progress Action Fund have a new initiative to help build momentum around health care reform and to support progressive policymakers committed to with SEIU's Americans for Health Care, they fielded a national poll to create and test health care messages with the public. In brief, the public believes the health care system is broken and understands that policymakers have failed to address this issue. With American families feeling increasingly helpless in the face of skyrocketing

costs and stagnant wages, they are hungry for real reform. Click here for the poll results, executive summary and more.

Rising Out-of-Pocket Spending for Medical Care: A Growing Strain on Family Budgets

Since the late 1990s, accelerated growth in health care spending has translated into increased burdens on family budgets. In 2001–02, an average of 13 million families per year had direct out-of-pocket (OOP) costs equal to or exceeding 10 percent of family income. When premium costs are added into the equation, even more families are devoting a substantial share of resources to health care expenses. From the Commonwealth Fund.

Health Coverage for Aging Baby Boomers

Rising out-of-pocket health care costs and sluggish wage growth threatens workers' ability to save for retirement. This is particularly true for adults ages 50 to 64, or "baby boomers," whose per capita health care expenditures are more than twice those of younger adults. In this January 2006 published analysis of The Commonwealth Fund Survey of Older Adults, the authors explore the extent and quality of health insurance coverage for baby boomers in the workforce. Among their key findings: older adults have high rates of chronic health conditions; many have unstable insurance coverage; those who have low income, individual coverage, or no insurance spend a substantial share of their income on coverage and health care and have reduced access to care.

A recent Urban Institute report, Lowering Financial Burdens and Increasing Health Insurance Coverage for Those with High Medical Costs, reviews evidence that the health care system is doing a poor job of ensuring care for those who most need it and offers options for subsidizing health care coverage for high-cost, high-risk populations.

Young adults are one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population without health insurance. They often lose coverage under their parents' policies at age 19 or when they graduate from high school or college. The updated Rite of Passage: Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help suggests several policy changes that could extend coverage to uninsured young adults.

Between 2000 and 2003, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage grew by 5 million, with nearly the entire increase attributed to a decline in employer-sponsored coverage. A Shared Responsibility: U.S. Employers and the Provision of Health Insurance to Employees explores the characteristics of workers who do not receive coverage from their own firms; examines how health care costs are spread across workers, employers, and the government; and recommends policy options to expand and strengthen employer-sponsored coverage.

In addition to the 45 million uninsured adults in the United States, another 16 million adults were underinsured in 2003, meaning their insurance did not adequately protect them against catastrophic health care expenses. Insured But Not Protected: How Many Adults Are Underinsured? explains that underinsured adults are almost as likely as the uninsured to go without needed medical care and to incur medical debt. (Full article available with subscription.)

Other Health Issues

Disease Management and Workplace Wellness

The Wellness Program Management Yearbook, Third Edition, a desk reference for wellness and health promotion professionals has been published. Compiled by the editors of Wellness Program Management Advisor, the monthly newsletter for workplace wellness professionals, this yearbook provides results of exclusive wellness management research, benchmark information, new program ideas, strategies, tips and checklists crucial for today's successful wellness program.

Few Hospitals Use Patients' Race, Ethnicity and Language Data to Improve Quality of Care

Health care stakeholders urge all U.S. hospitals to use patient data to improve the quality and consistency of care their patients receive. The study was conducted by the National Public Health and Hospital Institute with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Close-Knit Neighborhoods May Help Prevent Children from Becoming Overweight

Adolescents living in close-knit neighborhoods where adults provide social support – such as watching out for youngsters and seeking to correct their misbehavior – are just half as likely to be overweight or nearly overweight as other children, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environment Chemicals

CDC's analyses of environmental toxins have found very high levels of DDT and other pesticides in surveyed Mexican-Americans, about twice that of African-Americans, and three times that of whites.

Mississippi's 'Heart Man' Examines Links Between Race and Disease
From now until 2014, researchers will follow 5,302 black residents of three Mississippi counties,observing their lives and how their heart health is related to their environment. Participants will receive periodic medical examinations and referrals for care when problems are detected. The ultimate aim of the $54 million investigation, Dr. Taylor said, "is to gain the information we need to stop an epidemic of cardiovascular diseases within the African-American community." (2/7/06, New York Times)

Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities Through Food Retailing

An often-ignored cause of obesity and poor health is a lack of access to good, healthy food. Residents in low-income communities have limited options for healthy eating and often resort to buying unhealthy foods at corner stores or fast food outlets. This new California Endowment PolicyLink report, Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities through Food Retailing, shows how low-income communities are accessing healthy, affordable food in their neighborhoods.

Disparities in Health Analyzed

A group of Pitt researchers and directors traveled to Washington last week to take part in a conference on racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. "This conference represents Pitt coming to the nation's capital to create a partnership with the federal government on an effort we launched in 2001," said Stephen Thomas, director of Pitt's Center for Minority Health. The summit had been held in Pittsburgh for the past five years, where it was only able to hold 300 participants. This year, more than 2,000 clinicians, physician researchers, public health professionals and practitioners attended.

Ethnic and Racial Differences May Affect Lung Cancer Risk

African Americans and Native Hawaiians are more susceptible to lung cancer from cigarette smoking than are whites, Japanese Americans, and Latinos, according to the results of a large cohort study published in the January 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

These have recently been added to the web site of Fletcher Allen Health Care in Alliance with the University of Vermont (FAHC): Rural Hispanics at a Glance A 2005 report by the USDA's Economic Research Service and Review of Pesticide Education materials for Health Care Providers Providing Care to Agricultural Workers Evaluates the medical resources available to providers

Return to Top

STATE HEALTH EVENTS AND NOTICES

March 17, 2006

CHAIN Days 2006 in Tallahassee

April 4 - 5, 2006

Don't miss this longstanding event for Florida health care advocates, with Press Conference on April 5. For more information and registration form, click here. During this year's legislative session we must inundate the legislature with our concerns and stand as a united front to enforce our message that people know what they want and need! Legislative Priorities include: Medicaid Reform, Medicare Part D, Housing Trust Fund, Dream Act and In-state Tuition, and KidCare. Come join us! as consumers, providers and advocates of health care and strong and healthy families join their voices in a powerful chorus.

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

Citizens' Health Care Working Group Daytona Beach Community Meeting

March 26, 2006, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Bethune-Cookman College, Wildcat Retreat Room

The Congressionally appointed Citizens' Health Care Working Group has been charged with listening to and learning from the American public at large about concerns with the nation’s health system. They are holding community meetings to listen to communities about their local concerns, as well as to solicit recommendations to help shape national health policy. Recommendations will be considered by Congress and the White House. Register for the Daytona Beach meeting.

For more information click here.

NORTH FLORIDA

Walk for the Minds of America
Tuesday, April 4 in Tallahassee

NAMI Florida is holding this event to raise awareness about mental illness and to raise funds for NAMI. For more information, call 850/671-4445 or 877/626-4352.

CENTRAL FLORIDA

Advocacy Jump Start 2006-2007: Conquer Your Fears & Become An Advocate
April 6, 2006, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Rollins College, Winter Park

The Public Policy Director of the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits, and noted author on nonprofit advocacy, will host a full day of mini-sessions designed to conquer advocacy fears and introduce you to the public policy process. At lunch, Walt Disney World’s V. P. of Government Relations will discuss who currently holds power, from both a conservative and liberal viewpoint, and the best way to convince these players that your issue is worthy of support. Philanthropy Center Members: $100 workshop, $25 lunch; Non-members $200 workshop, $50 lunch. Board members may attend any or all sessions for free, when accompanied by a staff member. For more information click here

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA

Anxiety Disorders Association of America 26th Annual Conference

March 23-26, Hyatt Regency in Miami

The only national meeting exclusively dedicated to anxiety disorders offers CE/CHE credits through symposia and training institutes. Click here for more information or call 240/485-1032. Registration after March 1 at event only.

West Dade Community Forum: Immigrants and Public Benefits

March 28, 2006, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm Miami-Dade Public Library, 9445 Coral Way, Miami

Sponsored by Human Services Coalition and Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, this forum's agenda covers non-citizen eligibilty for federal benefits, including Medicaid, Food Stamps, Temporary Cash Assistance for Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income. Written materials will be distributed at this panel discussion of specialists in social work, public benefits, and immigration. For more information, contact Mr. Zamorano at 305/573-1106, ext 1430.

Symbolic Community Walk for Brain Disorders
Sunday, April 9, 2006 8:30 am, Dreher Park in WPB

Walk to end stigma; promote healthy minds & healthy families; provide growth of programs for children, adolescents and adults with brain disorders as well as their caregivers; and educate and unify the community to foster awareness and understanding. For registration or more information: debbyp2@bellsouth.net

Exhibitors Needed for Hip Hop 4 Health Fairs in Miami-Dade

Saturday, April 29th noon to 3 PM, Homestead area location

Saturday, May 20th noon to 3 PM, Health Fair at a central location within Miami-Dade County

Hip Hop 4 Health is an outreach effort to help middle school kids get health screenings and information to lead healthier lives. Four health fairs also featuring entertainment will target students, their families and the surrounding communities in underserved areas of Miami-Dade County. Social service and healthcare agencies are invited to participate in these fairs at no cost. Contact Hilda Mitrani at hildamitrani@comcast.net or 305/992-3475.

Conference on Intervention

October 2-4, 2006 at The Breakers Palm Beach Hotel in Palm Beach

Click here for more information on this and four other events scheduled for 2006.

STATEWIDE

EVENTS

Audioconference on Best Practices in Infant, Maternal and Reproductive Health

March 29, 2006 10:00 am - 11:00 am

National, state and local agency health experts will discuss National Women's Health Week (May 14-20) in this third Florida Department of Health audioconference. For more information, contact Cheryl_Robbins@doh.state.fl.us.

In Our Best Interest: Governor's Conference on Women's Health

March 31, 2006 Submission deadline for one-hour session proposals

May 18-19 Orlando, Sheraton World

For more information on this year's state-mandated conference of the interagency Women's Health Strategy Committee, click here or write Shara_Senior@doh.state.fl.us

Children's Week in Tallahassee

March 31-April 8, 2006

The 11th Annual Children's Week will feature many activities for children, parents and advocates in Tallahassee. For more information, click here or write Jason@childrensweek.org. Community-based activities will also take place from March 4 through April 8, from Pensacola to Key West. For information about events taking place in your community, click here.

Cover the Uninsured Week 2006 will take place May 1-7

Visit covertheuninsuredweek.org to see Florida events.

2006 Baker Act Training The University of South Florida Department of Mental Health Law and Policy presents a series of one-day workshops which will provide an overview for a wide variety of persons who need to be familiar with the Baker Act and its procedures. Workshops are scheduled through May, 2006 in select cities across the state. Click here to see a full listing of the events and register online.

AWARD NOMINATIONS INVITED

IMPACT Awards for Funders

Deadline for nominations: March 31

Awards Breakfast: April 27 Sheraton Ft. Lauderdale Airport Hotel

Nonprofit groups have a chance to honor their funders. The Donors Forum of South Florida's new IMPACT Awards will honor foundations, corporations, or other types of funders for their significant impact on the community-at-large, recipient agencies' clients, or organizations. For more information and to get a brief nomination form, write GCraig@donorsforumsf.org.

Sapphire Award to Recognize Community Health Excellence
Deadline for Nominations: May 5, 2006
The Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida's Sapphire Award recognizes and promotes programs that have demonstrated impact in improving health-related outcomes of Florida's at-risk populations and communities. Three persons familiar with the organization must nominate the organization for the award. Up to three nonprofit winners will be selected annually to receive a financial award toward their defined community health objectives in an amount not to exceed $120,000 per organization. To be eligible, nominated 501 (c)(3)Florida housed and incorporated organizations must have a proven record of improving the health of their community through measurable. Nominations can be initiated by a health professional, volunteer, board member, or client; a representative of a partnering organization, such as another nonprofit organization or government agency; a representative of a foundation, corporation, or other funding institution; a program evaluator; or someone else who has direct knowledge of the organization's work and impact. Click here for information and application.

Return to Top

NATIONAL EVENTS AND NOTICES

March 17, 2006

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

AUDIO CONFERENCES

NOTICES

CAMPAIGNS AND INITIATIVES

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

Anxiety Disorders Association of America 26th Annual Conference

March 23-26, Hyatt Regency in Miami The only national meeting exclusively dedicated to anxiety disorders offers CE/CHE credits through symposia and training institutes. Click here for more information or call 240/485-1032. Registration after March 1 at event only.

Empowering Communities to Bridge Health Divides

will be held April 1-2, 2006 at Yale University, New Haven, CT, convening more than 600 student leaders and activists, doctors, public health professionals, nurses and others from throughout the world who are interested in international service, global health, public health, and medicine. The conference goal is to inform the public about health divides and empower them to develop solutions to improve access to care for the medically underserved. For details click here.

Third Annual Connecting Communities Learning Forum and Exhibition

April 9–11, 2006 -- Washington, DC

The eHealth Initiative and Foundation (eHI) announces this Learning Forum to bring together diverse stakeholders, including practicing clinicians, health plans, public sector leaders including federal and state policy-makers, quality improvement organizations, and emerging regional and community based health information organizations to identify strategies (clinical, financial, legal, organizational, and technical) to support better health and healthcare through health information exchange. Click here for details.

AUDIO CONFERENCES

Audio Conferences and Webcasts

Dental Care Access and Prevention Strategies

May 18, 2006 ACHI audio conference

Operation Access: Providing Donated Outpatient Surgery to Uninsured People

June 15, 2006 ACHI audio conference

NOTICES

Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU) Survey

This brief online survey about health literacy practices that clinicians use to communicate with low health literacy patients is part of a Commonwealth Fund- and Kaiser Permanente-supported project designed to improve health literacy, which affects 90 million adults in the United States. Click here to share your experiences and practices by completing the survey.

CAMPAIGNS AND INITIATIVES

National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month: March
For materials: 800/227-2732 877/35-COLON Andrea.Untrojb@preventcancer.org www.preventcancer.org/colorectal

Click here for the Black Women's Health Imperative's campaign.

National Nutrition Month®: March

For materials: 800/877-1600 x4771 nnm@eatright.org www.eatright.org

Save Your Vision Month: March

For materials: 314/991-4100 slthomas@aoa.org www.aoa.org

7th Annual Farmworker Awareness Week: March 27 - April 2

Those who care are urged to organize an activity to support farmworkers, such as a film screening, panel discussion, teach-in, field trip to a local farm, day of fasting, puppet show; or volunteer with local farmworkers; donate skills, goods or services to farmworker organizations; spearhead and participate in petitions, letter-writing, calling legislators to support farmworker friendly legislation. For more information, contact Farmworkers Assoication of Florida at 407/886-5151.

National Sleep Awareness Week: March 27 - April 2
For materials: 202/347-3471 nsf@sleepfoundation.org www.sleepfoundation.org

American Diabetes Alert Day: March 28

For materials: 800/DIABETES askada@diabetes.org www.diabetes.org/communityprograms-and-localevents/americandiabetesalert.jsp

National Donate Life Month: April

For materials: 301/443-7577 ask@hrsa.gov www.organdonor.gov/donatelife.htm

Alcohol Awareness Month: April

For materials: 800/789-2647 866/889-2647 TDD www.mentalhealth.org

National Alcohol Screening Day: April 6

For materials: 781/239-0071 info@mentalhealthscreening.org www.NationalAlcoholScreeningDay.org

National Infant Immunization Week: April 22 - 29

For materials: 800/232-4636 English/Spanish nipinfo@cdc.gov www.cdc.gov/nip/events/niiw/

National Public Health Week 2006

April 3-9, 2006. The American Public Health Association and hundreds of partner organizations will explore ways that Americans can build healthier communities and healthier kids. Communities across the country will consider how buildings, roads, sidewalks and neighborhood design are affecting the health of children. For more information, click here.

Second Annual Medical Fitness Week

April 24–30, 2006. The Medical Fitness Association sponsoring this international initiative to promote an increase in physical activity levels in all ages and to highlight the medical fitness difference. Medical fitness centers and communities are asked to offer programming to teach families skills to develop healthy lifestyle habits. All participating organizations are also asked to raise money through participation the Walking Challenge for local programs to fight childhood obesity. For details, click here.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and Walk4Life, Inc. also remind parents that children learn to get more physically active by example, with their new brochure, 101 Tips for Family Fitness Fun. For a free copy and information about bulk rate costs, email jlee-beverly@aahperd.org. To purchase copies, call 1/800-321-0789. Stock number is 304-10322. Spanish brochures, Consejos Divertidos para una Familia en Forma, are also available.

Cover the Uninsured Week 2006

May 1-7, 2006

The campaign's Web site has been updated with new information, resources and ways to get involved in the largest national campaign to help get America covered. Action steps include: Tell Congress, Spread the word by sending an email to your friends, Get involved in Cover the Uninsured Week activities. To download and order resources and materials including posters, stickers, fliers and more, for little or no cost, click here. For large or special orders, call 202/572-2928.

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

May 3, 2006. Many materials and opportunities for community activities are available here.

Mental Health Month: May

For materials: 800/969-6642 www.nmha.org

National High Blood Pressure Education Month: May

For materials: 301/592-8573 nhlbiinfo@nhlbi.nih.gov hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhbpep_kit

Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month: May

For materials: 888/462-DERM mediarelations@aad.org www.aad.org

Healthy Vision Month: May

For materials: 301/496-5248 hvm@nei.nih.gov www.healthyvision2010.org/hvm/

National Women's Health Week: May 14 - 20

For materials: 202/690-7651 4woman@ps.net www.womenshealth.gov