Studies Eye Income Gap, Health Policy

The Urban Institute announces new studies and a new Web site.

The Washington D.C.-based Urban Institute in January released two studies exploring income inequality among U.S. children and health policy for low-income residents of Arizona as part of its Assessing the New Federalism project. NASW is a partner in the project.

It also introduced a new World Wide Web site sponsored by the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a collaborative effort by Urban Institute staff and community groups in 12 cities. The Web site, at www.urban.org/nnip, is designed to stimulate development and use of a common set of statistical data at the neighborhood level in the 12 communities.

"Sources of Support and Income Inequality Among America's Children," by Gregory Acs and Megan Gallagher, creates an "inequality index" by comparing the economic gaps between rich and poor children living in the same states. The study found that a larger proportion of children live in poverty in states that also had the widest gaps. Of the 13 states studied, California, Mississippi, New York and Texas showed the largest disparities.

In "Health Policy for Low-Income People in Arizona," Michael Sparer contends that the state's health insurance system is in crisis, mainly because of its growing number of people without health insurance. By 1997, 28 percent of the population was uninsured, the highest percentage in the nation. Though the state has a strong economy and high employment rate, most workers are employed in low-paying service jobs that don't offer employee benefits, Sparer found.

In addition, Arizona is the only state that requires all Medicaid beneficiaries to receive their long-term care through managed care organizations.

For details: Bonnie Nowak, Urban Institute, (202) 261-5850; bnowak@ui.urban.org

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