Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Robin Koralek on Public Management, Services

The Health Passport Project (HPP) is an initiative sponsored by the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and conducted in Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Reno, Nevada. HPP is intended to demonstrate how a secure multipurpose electronic health and food benefits card can facilitate information-sharing and improve administrative efficiency among public and private health care providers, nutrition programs, and Head Start educators while placing individuals firmly in control of the information on the card. This evaluation of the HPP demonstration is intended to provide information that decisionmakers in the three participating states need before the states invest in statewide implementation, and to provide critical information to other states considering implementing HPP or related smart card technology.

The Health Passport Project (HPP) is an initiative sponsored by the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and conducted in Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Reno, Nevada. HPP is intended to demonstrate how a secure multipurpose electronic health and food benefits card can facilitate information-sharing and improve administrative efficiency among public and private health care providers, nutrition programs, and Head Start educators while placing individuals firmly in control of the information on the card. This evaluation of the HPP demonstration is intended to provide information that decisionmakers in the three participating states need before the states invest in statewide implementation, and to provide critical information to other states considering implementing HPP or related smart card technology.

In 1996 and 1997, the Urban Institute conducted case studies in 13 states that provided a baseline for understanding changes emerging from welfare reform. This set of state updates describes changes occurring between 1996-97 and 1999-2000 based on a second set of case studies completed in 1999 and 2000. Programs covered include income support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, employment and training supports for low-income welfare and non-welfare families, child care, and child welfare. It also looks at interactions among these programs.

New Jersey has streamlined many aspects of its social services and income support programs and successfully implemented Work First New Jersey (WFNJ), changing the emphasis of cash assistance from education and training to immediate employment and personal responsibility. The state continues to maintain a commitment to its low-income population through a relatively generous safety net for poor families including low-income singles and families without children. New Jersey continues to operate two separate child care systems for welfare and non-welfare families. New Jersey also retained the concept of transitional child care for families exiting welfare, and recently extended the transitional period from two to three years. While resources were unavailable in New Jersey to fund all non-welfare families who applied for child care in the years after welfare reform, in July of 1999 New Jersey transferred TANF funds to eliminate existing waiting lists for non-welfare families seeking child care subsidies.

In 1996 and 1997, the Urban Institute conducted case studies in 13 states that provided a baseline for understanding changes emerging from welfare reform. This set of state updates describes changes occurring between 1996-97 and 1999-2000 based on a second set of case studies completed in 1999 and 2000. Programs covered include income support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, employment and training supports for low-income welfare and non-welfare families, child care, and child welfare. It also looks at interactions among these programs.

The policy context for both welfare programs and employment and training programs operated by the workforce development system has changed dramatically in the past few years. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 requires welfare agencies to focus more than in the past on moving welfare recipients into employment. PRWORA provides funding to welfare agencies in the form of a block grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), to support efforts to achieve this objective. The need to move more TANF clients into work activities and jobs means that TANF agencies need to expand or develop structural and organizational arrangements that make this possible, including coordinating with the workforce development system.