Our maps, updated by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, track actions states are taking to protect their residents’ health insurance coverage and access. Most recently, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill prohibiting short-term health plans in his state.

Since the Trump administration began encouraging states to consider new Medicaid waiver policies, such as work requirements, 19 states have approved or pending waivers that restrict coverage. In a To the Point series, Cindy Mann of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips considers the intersection of these waivers and states’ efforts to improve care delivery for enrollees.

Medicaid expansion has been a big issue in many states this election season, and Kansas is no exception. A study comparing the state's low-income residents with their counterparts in Indiana and Ohio finds not only significantly higher numbers of uninsured in Kansas, but also more frequent cost-related delays in care and greater difficulty affording medical bills.

Research continues to demonstrate that efforts to improve the health of people with low incomes are unlikely to succeed unless social and environmental conditions that affect health are also addressed. Using national survey data, Peter J. Cunningham of Virginia Commonwealth University reports on To the Point that even relatively healthy lower-income people have higher health risks, greater social needs, and worse access to care than relatively healthy higher-income people.

The new issue of our quarterly newsletter examines how health system leaders can reduce race-based disparities in health care by confronting the role of racism head on.

A new tool aimed at redesigning the way patients request medical records was released at the recent Biden Cancer Summit.

Visit our map and download fact sheets to see changes over time in: the percentage of uninsured adults and adults going without care because of costs, enrollment in marketplace plans and Medicaid, and the amount of federal support for health coverage.

More small-business workers, solo entrepreneurs, and other self-employed Americans have insurance coverage since the ACA's insurance market reforms, consumer subsidies, and Medicaid expansion took effect, according to a new report by authors David Chase and John Arensmeyer of the Small Business Majority.

Congress is making "quiet progress" on lowering drug costs for patients, say pharmaceutical policy experts Kristi Martin and Jeremy Sharp of Waxman Strategies. In their post on To the Point, Martin and Sharp explain how legislation currently moving through Congress could help to lower drug costs for patients by targeting drug company strategies designed to stifle or delay competition.

The Commonwealth Fund is recruiting for a new program officer in its New York City office to lead our vulnerable populations grant portfolio. The new position will support the Commonwealth Fund's Health Care Delivery System Reform program and will feature responsibility for managing current grants, developing new grants, refining the portfolio's strategy, and ensuring the continued success of the Fund's minority health leadership and policy fellowships. The job description can be found here.