Zooming In On Health Reform: a new online tool from the Kaiser Family Foundation

"A new online tool released 7/31/13 by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides detailed projections on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Medicaid enrollment and the uninsured in local communities across the nation. The tool is one of several interactive offerings on the Foundation's recently redesigned website that can help people understand key elements of the health reform law, its implications and its implementation.

Zooming In On Health Reform:  Understanding the Potential Impact of the ACA on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Local Level, the new interactive infographic, and a companion brief, State and Local Coverage Change under Fill Implementation of the Affordable Care Act, reveal substantial geographic variations in the law's impact.

The tool's interactive map allow users to identify communities that could experience the largest declines in the uninsured and where the remaining uninsured populations are likely to be concentrated, as well as to identify key local areas for enrollment outreach. Users can enter zip codes or place names to compare different states, counties, and localities, and to examine the characteristics of the changing Medicaid and uninsured populations by race, age, gender and language spoken at home, and to assess the impact going forward with the optional Medicaid expansion for a state. The tool's estimates reflect the projected impact if all states were to undertake the expansion.

For more information about the "Zooming In" tool and other Kaiser resources related to health reform, visit:  http://kff.org/health-reform/"  [Source:  CCI Voice]