Research Roundup

Even as Congress debates expanding SCHIP health care coverage for children, the reality is that over half of people (53%) living in low-income families in nine states and the District of Columbia are eligible for neither Medicaid nor SCHIP coverage, according to new analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Social Policy. While eligibility varies across different states, no state covers more than 80% of those low-income families.

Key changes in land development patterns could play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as outlined in a new book, Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change produced by The Urban Land Institute in conjunction with Smart Growth America. As the essays in the book emphasize, if sprawling development is not refocused on smarter development plans, projected increases in miles driven will overwhelm any gain from fuel-efficiency proposals. 

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund, Creating Payment Systems to Accelerate Value-Driven Health Care: Issues and Options for Policy Reform, discusses the many concepts and key provisions that go into developing effective pay-for-performance systems. The report draws on existing systems and presents a strategy for improving payment systems, specifically payments that reward the quality of care provided.

In Putting the Pieces Together: A Taxpayer's Guide to the Mississippi Budget, the Mississippi Economic Policy Center highlights the pervasive unfairness of the current Mississippi tax system where the top 20% of income earners pay 7% of their income in state and local taxes, while the poorest 20% of earners (making an average of $7,000 per year) pay 10% of that meager income in taxes.