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This brief presents the most current data available on the Medicare supplemental insurance (Medigap) market, including enrollment and premiums by state and plan type, analyzes how many beneficiaries have first dollar coverage (particularly Plans C and F), and describes recent Medigap proposals that have emerged as part of efforts to reduce Medicare spending and the national debt.
As policymakers consider ways to slow the growth in Medicare spending as part of broader efforts to reduce the federal debt or offset the cost of other spending priorities, some have proposed to increase beneficiary contributions through higher Medicare premiums. This issue brief explains provisions of current law that impose income-related premiums under Medicare Part B and Part D, describes recent proposals to modify these requirements, and analyzes the potential implications for the Medicare population.
This brief provides a side-by-side comparison of Medicare provisions included in broad-based packages to reduce the deficit and debt put forward by the President and the Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees. In addition, this brief summarizes Medicare provisions included in other deficit- and debt- reduction proposals released since January 2012 and describes recent activities that pertain to Medicare and the federal budget, including Medicare’s role in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently established 12 new Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment performance indicators for states to report beginning in October 2013. These indicators provide insight into the performance of new eligibility and enrollment policies established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In December 2013, CMS released initial reports for a subset of the indicators. This brief provides an overview of the new performance indicators; the initial data; and…
This analysis provides the first national estimates of the expected impact of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) coverage expansions on people with HIV. The brief finds that close to 70,000 uninsured people with HIV who are in care could gain new coverage, including 47,000 through Medicaid were all states to expand their Medicaid coverage.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has focused attention on the composition of the nongroup market: how it looked before the new regulatory provisions take effect and how it will change afterwards. There are several ways of answering this question, depending on the time period for measuring enrollment and the information source. There is substantial turnover among people with nongroup coverage, which means that the number of people covered at the beginning of…
Community health centers are a key source of primary care in underserved areas. Their role will grow as coverage expands under the ACA. To sharpen understanding of the health center patient population, this brief compares them to the low-income population overall, using the Health Center Patient Survey and National Health Interview Survey. The pre-ACA profile of health center patients that emerges sets the stage for measuring change and highlights important implications of states’ Medicaid expansion…
This brief provides an overview of the many different paths to enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP, including paths created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and reviews the available national level data on enrollment through these avenues.
This report presents findings from an analysis of the Medicare Part D marketplace in 2013 and changes in drug coverage and costs since 2006. It presents key findings related to Medicare drug plan availability, enrollment, premiums, low-income subsidies, the coverage gap, benefit design, cost sharing, formularies, and utilization management, based on data from CMS for all plans participating in Part D. The analysis was conducted jointly by researchers at Georgetown University, the Kaiser Family Foundation…
Congressional debates about the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) raise questions about whether doctors are willing to see Medicare patients. This issue brief examines multiple data sources to assess beneficiaries’ access to physicians, particularly vulnerable beneficiaries with greater health needs and other disadvantages. It examines the share of doctors who are participating physicians as well as those who have opted-out of the Medicare program to privately contract with Medicare patients. It includes State analyses of…
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