Comprehensive Health Care Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women

[Excerpt] The status-quo health insurance system is serving women poorly. An estimated 64 million women lack adequate health insurance. Over half of all medical bankruptcies impact a woman. For too many women and their families today, quality, affordable health care is out of reach. Women are more vulnerable to high health care costs than men. Several factors explain why. First, women’s health needs differ from men’s, so women are obliged to interact more regularly with the health care system – regardless of whether they have adequate insurance coverage or not. Second, women are more likely to be economically vulnerable and therefore face devastating consequences when faced with a mounting pile of medical bills. The inability of the current system to adequately serve women’s health care needs has come at great expense. One recent study estimates that women’s chronic disease conditions cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year. The following brief provides an overview of the basic facts regarding women’s insurance cov-erage, and the consequences of our broken health insurance system on women’s health – both physical and financial. Specifically: &#; Over one million women have lost their health insurance due to a spouse’s job loss during the current economic downturn. &#; As a consequence of single mothers’ job loss, the Joint Economic Committee estimates that at least 276,000 children have lost health insurance coverage. &#; Women between the ages of 55 and 64 are particularly vulnerable to losing their health insurance benefits because of their husbands’ transition from employer-sponsored coverage to Medicare. &#; Younger women are particularly vulnerable to lacking adequate health insur-ance coverage. &#; 39 percent of all low-income women lack health insurance coverage &#; The health consequences of inadequate coverage are more severe for women than for men. &#; While the financial burden of inadequate health insurance coverage weighs heavily on all Americans, uninsured and under-insured women suffer more se-vere economic consequences than do men. The comprehensive health care reform proposals offered by the Obama Administration and currently taking shape under the leadership of Democrats in the House and Senate include numerous provisions that are critical to providing quality, affordable health care for all Americans, both women and men. Many of these solutions are a key part of the prescription for easing the burden on America’s women, for whom the status quo health care system is a failure

Present Law and Analysis Relating to Individual Retirement Arrangements

[Excerpt] The House Committee on Ways and Means, Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee, has scheduled a public hearing to take place on June 26, 2008, on the role of individual retirement arrangements (“IRAs”) in our retirement system. The hearing is scheduled to focus on the recently issued report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), entitled “Individual Retirement Accounts, Government Actions Could Encourage More Employers to Offer IRAs to Employees,” June 2008; the role of IRAs in our retirement system; and legislative proposals for automatic IRA enrollment. This document,1 prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, includes a description of present law and analysis relating to IRAs

Boston University 2012 graduate student library survey report

In the spring of 2012, the Boston University libraries surveyed BU graduate students to determine their use of and satisfaction with current library services and resources. This survey followed a survey of the faculty in the fall of 2010, and is part of a planned cycle of faculty, graduate student, and undergraduate surveys every three years

Boston University Libraries 2016 Graduate Survey Instrument

In the spring of 2016, the Boston University libraries surveyed BU faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students to determine their use of and satisfaction with library services and resources. This document shows the survey instrument emailed to BU graduate students. A report describing the protocol and analyzing the data gathered in this survey may be found at this location, http://hdl.handle.net/2144/20325

Boston University 2010 faculty library survey report

In the fall of 2010, the Boston University Libraries surveyed BU faculty to determine their use of and satisfaction with library services and resources. From the survey results, the Libraries identified areas to improve support of faculty teaching and research. Survey findings will contribute to the overall assessment of the Libraries and help determine future library strategic initiatives