This week’s updates from KFF

 Chartpack Provides Overview of the Bush Administration’s Proposed FY 2007 Budget Proposal
A new chartpack reviews the President’s FY 2007 budget request toCongress and highlights overall budget assumptions and funding formajor health programs. It begins with a description of the federalbudget process, followed by summary information on the overallcomposition of the Administration’s budget. Overall, the budgetincludes net reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthprograms administered by the Department of Health and Human Services,as well as proposals to promote health savings accounts.

New Study Featured in Health Affairs Provides Lessons About Utah Medicaid Waiver
An article in the March/April edition of Health Affairs presents newfindings from the Foundation’s 2004 survey of the experiences ofMedicaid beneficiaries under Utah’s 2002 waiver, which relies onsavings from reducing coverage for current beneficiaries to provide alimited benefit to low-income uninsured parents and adults. The studysuggests that while such an approach can help fill a critical need forlow-income uninsured adults, it has important limitations.

Statehealthfacts.org Updates Data on Hospitals
Statehealthfacts.org has updated data from the American HospitalAssociation (AHA) on hospitals and hospital utilization for 2004 forall 50 states and the nation. The total number of hospitals and the distribution of hospitals by ownership type are available. Hospital trend data have also been updated and are available for 1999-2004. Other topics include the total number of hospital admissions, beds, emergency room visits, inpatient days, and outpatient visits per 1,000 population. Statehealthfacts.org provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data on all 50 states, covering more than 500 health topics.