(June 12, 2019)  The Commonwealth Fund’s 2019 Scorecard on State Health System Performance reveals that most states are losing ground on key measures related to life expectancy as premature deaths from suicide, alcohol, and drug overdose continue to increase. Several states that most recently expanded eligibility for their Medicaid programs saw meaningful gains in access to health care; in other states prior gains eroded between 2016 and 2017. Finally, the Scorecard found that health care costs are placing an increasing financial burden on families across the nation.

In addition, you can download the full report, and a two-page summary for each state.

This research brief from the Pennsylvania State Data Center, Child Diversity in Pennsylvania, examines trends in the changing racial and ethnic makeup of Pennsylvania’s child population. The brief accompanies an interactive visualization which shows trends in race and ethnicity by school district and age group for those under 20 years.

     The report shows that nearly a third of all children in Pennsylvania are children of color as of 2017, up from a quarter in 2009. Meanwhile, just one in five adults are persons of color. Four out of five school districts had higher shares of children of color in 2017 than 2009. Click here to read more in the full report, or click here to go straight to the visualization.

     The report and visualization were developed in collaboration with our affiliate, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. Learn more about their important work at https://www.papartnerships.org/.

The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a study on the economic impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.  According to their research, consumers’ use of SNAP benefits had a greater impact in rural areas during national economic downturn, creating additional jobs in those counties.  The ERS conducts research and analysis on a broad range of economic and policy topics related to agriculture and rural areas.  The report can be accessed here:  https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=93168.

A new report has been released, Broadband Availability and Access in Rural Pennsylvania.  The project, funded by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and conducted by researchers at Penn State, details broadband access across Pennsylvania and makes policy recommendations for the General Assembly to address broadband access disparities.

According to the report, over 800,000 Pennsylvania residents do not have access to broadband connectivity, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  However, recent research has documented that these official estimates are downplaying the true state of the digital divide because they rely on self-reported data by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  Informed policy requires systematic analysis to both verify the FCC’s numbers and accurately determine the true state of broadband connectivity across Pennsylvania.  The research collected more than 11 million broadband speed tests from across Pennsylvania in 2018.  These tests measured broadband speeds in every Pennsylvania county and found that median speeds across most areas of the state do not meet the FCC’s criteria to qualify as broadband.  The main findings from these analyses have profound implications for existing and future efforts to bridge the digital divide.

The full report can be accessed on the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s website at https://www.rural.palegislature.us/

New Pre-K for PA Report Released This Week

This week the Pre-K for PA Campaign released a report, Ready to Succeed: Kindergarten Teachers Support Investments in High-Quality Pre-k, based on findings of a survey conducted with campaign partner PSEA. The results show resounding support for high-quality pre-k among those surveyed.

PPC President and CEO Kari King joined fellow campaign members at an event at Hamilton Elementary School in the Carlisle Area School District in Cumberland County to release the report, noting, “Investments in high-quality pre-k have a significant return on investment for our children, schools and communities. However, the state is not investing enough to ensure access for the children who need it the most.”

More than 97,000 – or 56 percent – of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds do not have access. The Pre-K for PA Campaign is calling for a $50 million increase in the 2019-20 state budget; $40 million for Pre-K Counts and $10 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP). This investment will provide access to an additional 5,500 children.

The Rural Minority and Minority Health Research Center at the University of South Carolina has published two policy briefs.

The first brief, Identification of High-Need Rural Counties to Assist in Resource Location Planning, categorizes high-need, low-resource locations by identifying counties that lacked safety-net providers.

The second brief, Identification of High-Need Rural Counties to Assist in Resource Location Planning for Primary Care, examines areas with poor health outcomes and limited access to primary care safety net settings.

What percentage of homes in West Virginia are owner-occupied? What percent of households in Appalachian Pennsylvania have access to a vehicle? How many households in Appalachian Tennessee have a computer or laptop? What is the labor participation rate in Appalachian South Carolina?

These are only a few of the more than  300,000 data points offered in the The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2013–2017 American Community Survey, also known as The Chartbook, which was released this week. Drawing from the American Community Survey and comparable Census Population Estimates, The Chartbook offers statistics on demographics, income, employment, as well as education, computer access, housing, and transportation and other indicators—all presented at the regional, subregional, state, and county level with comparisons to the rest of the nation. The Chartbook also examines data change over recent years to show trends.  For instance, Appalachia’s median household income is now 83% of the U.S. rate, up from 80% between 2012-2016, and all diploma and degree  rates – including high school, associate’s degree, and bachelor’s degrees – are rising across the Region.

“These patterns suggest that the pace of economic recovery since the Great Recession has varied across the Region, but the counties that saw increases in median household income are also those with higher levels of education and labor force participation, and lower levels of unemployment,” said report coauthor Linda A. Jacobsen, Population Reference Bureau’s vice president for U.S. Programs who helped spearhead the project on behalf of ARC.

Estimates of the population for sub-county geographies (municipalities) as of July 1, 2018 have been today by the U.S. Census Bureau. A look at Pennsylvania’s cities shows that Philadelphia had the highest numeric increase since 2010, adding over 58,000 persons. Erie had the highest numeric decrease, losing over 5,000 persons during the same time.

How did other cities fare? And how did Pennsylvania’s boroughs and townships hold up? Click here to read the full brief.