Technical Assistance - State Reform Research and Strategies

This section includes content related to the policies being implemented by SHAP states.  It includes descriptive information and state-level research relevant to SHAP grantees.    For more information on SHADAC’s research on state coverage initiatives, please visit the SHARE web page.

Rhode Island's HEALTHpact Plan: Lessons for Small-Group Reform: This SHARE-sponsored issue brief presents lessons learned from Rhode Island's initiative to encourage take-up of health insurance in the small-group market.

Premium Assistance Program (click title to open PDF in new window): This brief summarizes, at a glance, the premium assistance programs available in each state as of December 2009.

The Secrets of Massachusetts’ Success: Why 97 Percent of State Residents Have Health Coverage: In this issue brief, SHARE grantee Stan Dorn and his research team present preliminary findings from their evaluation of auto-enrollment procedures in Massachusetts.

Trends in Child Enrollment in California’s Public Health Insurance Programs: This SHARE-sponsored issue brief examines child enrollment trends in California's three main public insurance programs: Medi-Cal, Health Families, and Healthy Kids.

Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus Coverage Expansion and Simplification: Early Data on Program Impact: The research team, led by Tom Oliver and Tom DeLeire at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, has released early findings from their SHARE project evaluating Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus coverage expansion, and cites numerous reasons for the success of the state’s simplification and expansion efforts.

Achieving Universal Coverage through Comprehensive Reform: The Vermont Experience:  This brief provides a summary of key lessons learned from the Vermont health reform experience, emphasizing especially the need for funding changes in order to sustain Vermont's reforms in the long term.

Using Information from Income Tax Forms to Target Medicaid and CHIP Outreach: Preliminary Results of the Maryland Kids First Act: This issue brief highlights Maryland’s early efforts to use income tax returns to identify potentially eligible (but unenrolled) children, and examines the benefits and drawbacks of this strategy as well as mechanisms for maximizing its effectiveness.

Efforts to Expand Coverage to the Uninsured:  Program Design Challenges and Tradeoffs in Six States:  This HRSA-funded study includes an in-depth assessment of programs in six states - Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, and Utah.