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News From Mathematica
December 4, 2006: A Semimonthly Update on New Publications, Presentations, and Other Developments
In This Issue:
New Paper Maps High School Graduation Rates onto College Rates by Race and Gender
2004 Food Stamp Participation Rates Released
Commercial Health Insurance: Smart or Simply Lucky?
Journal Article Details Health Care Decision Making by People with Disabilities
RSS Feed of This Newsletter Now Available
Fact to Consider:
During fiscal year 2004, about 60 percent of all eligible people and 51 percent of the eligible working poor received food stamp benefits, with wide variations from state to state. See below.
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Publications
Differences in Graduation Rates
 “Gender Gaps in College and High School Graduation by Race, Combining Public and Private Schools.” Duncan Chaplin and Daniel Klasik, Education Working Paper Archive, November 2006. Each year, the U.S. college system grants twice as many bachelor’s degrees to African American females as males. Large gender gaps favoring women also exist for other groups—on average, our college system awards 35 percent more B.A.s to females than males across all racial and ethnic groups. Traditional explanations for this situation have focused on what happens in college. In this brief, the authors note that at least part of the explanation can be traced to differences in high school graduation rates. Although differences in high school graduation rates are far smaller than differences in college rates, variations by race and gender follow the same patterns. High schools are graduating about 23 percent more African American females than males each year, and the authors’ estimates suggest about a 4 percent difference that favors females across all ethnic groups.
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Food Stamp Participation Rates
 “Reaching Those in Need: State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2004.” Karen E. Cunnyngham, Laura A. Castner, and Allen L. Schirm, October 2006. The Food Stamp program is the largest of the domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. During fiscal year 2004, the program served 26 million people in an average month at a total annual cost of over $29 billion in benefits, excluding hurricane-related disaster assistance provided in October and November 2005. This report presents estimates of food stamp participation rates for all eligible people and for the working poor--people who are eligible for food stamps and live in households in which someone earns income from a job. About 60 percent of all eligible people and 51 percent of the eligible working poor received food stamp benefits in fiscal year 2004, with wide variations from state to state.
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Commercial Health Insurance
 “Commercial Health Insurance: Smart or Simply Lucky?” Marsha Gold, Health Affairs, November 2006. Changes in the commercial health insurance industry are less a strategic shift than a defensive reaction to forces the industry cannot control, and risky opportunities the industry cannot pass up. Diversification into the public sector presents short-term gains for the insurance industry but leaves unchanged the fundamental challenge it faces: rapid and apparently uncontrollable growth in health care costs. This article notes that commercial insurers have not proved to be any better than public payers at controlling costs. Unless the drivers of health care cost are tamed, the main benefits that people seek from insurance—stable coverage and financial protection—will erode further.
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Health Care Decision Making
 "Informed Participation in TennCare by People with Disabilities." Steven C. Hill and Judith Wooldridge, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, November 2006. Informed consumer participation in health care is increasingly important, but people with disabilities face barriers to making health care decisions. Using a unique survey, we examine informed health care choices by nonelderly people with diverse disabilities, including mental retardation, mental illness, visual and hearing impairments, and difficulty communicating, in TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program. Most people with disabilities chose their plans and providers, felt they had enough information to choose a plan, and rated information from their providers as good to excellent. A minority did not know they could choose their plans and providers and reported poor or fair communication with providers. Adults with mental retardation were less likely than other adults with disabilities to seek information. Adults with serious difficulty communicating were less satisfied than others with information from providers. Medicare, Medicaid, health plans, and providers should tailor information dissemination to the diverse needs of people with disabilities.
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