Home Issue Brief Content Type

View the Latest: Issue Brief

Filter

List Grid

1,911 - 1,920 of 2,163 Results

  • Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Benefit Design

    Issue Brief

    This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines the benefit design of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) in 2008, focusing on national plans. It shows that in 2008, as in previous years, only about 10 percent of national prescription drug plans offered the defined standard benefit. The spotlight also looks at cost sharing structures, the use of flat dollar copayments, the upward trend in cost sharing for non-preferred drugs, and recent changes in cost…

  • Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Specialty Tiers

    Issue Brief

    This Medicare Part D data spotlight focuses on the use of specialty tiers for high-cost and injectible drugs in Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2008. It finds that the number of plans with specialty tiers has nearly doubled since 2006. It also looks at the drugs assigned to specialty tiers, the beneficiary cost sharing structure, and policy implications such higher out-of-pocket expenses and selection issues among beneficiaries who evaluate plans based on cost sharing. This…

  • Insurance Coverage and Access to HIV Testing and Treatment: Considerations for Individuals at Risk for Infection and for Those with Undiagnosed Infection

    Issue Brief

    Of the estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, approximately 500,000 are not receiving care for their disease. This includes an estimated 250,000 people who do not know they are HIV positive. This article reviews data on insurance coverage and access to HIV testing and treatment, with a particular focus on individuals who are at risk for HIV infection and those whose infection is undiagnosed. The article, co-authored by Kaiser HIV…

  • Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIPRA):  The revised CHIPRA Bill (H.R. 3963) Compared to the Original Bill (H.R. 976)

    Issue Brief

    Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIPRA): The revised CHIPRA Bill (H.R. 3963) Compared to the Original Bill (H.R. 976) The U.S. House and Senate passed a revised version of Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIPRA) that was intended to address key concerns of opponents of the original bill vetoed by the President. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is temporarily funded through December 14 at current levels, but requires…

  • Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: Premiums

    Issue Brief

    This Medicare Part D data spotlight analyzes the premiums charged by the 1,824 stand-alone Medicare Part D plans that will be offered in markets across the country in 2008. The analysis finds premiums charged for Part D plans range widely, from $9.80 per month to $107.50 per month. The average monthly premium would increase from $27.39 in 2007 to $31.99 if enrollees remain in their current plans next year – a 17 percent increase. Nearly…

  • Medicare Part D 2008 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap

    Issue Brief

    This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole,” in Medicare drug plans available in 2008. Part D enrollees (other than those receiving low-income subsidies) will reach the coverage gap after they incur $2,510 in total drug costs in 2008. At that point, enrollees are required to pay 100 percent of drug costs until they qualify for catastrophic coverage. The analysis finds that in 2008, more than a quarter of stand-alone…

  • How Much ‘Skin In The Game’ Do Medicare Beneficiaries Have? The Increasing Financial Burden of Health Care Spending, 1997-2003

    Issue Brief

    This study evaluated the changes in Medicare beneficiaries' health care spending between 1997 and 2003, and found beneficiaries spent a growing share of their income on health care. The results showed that median out-of-pocket health spending increased from 11.9% of income in 1997 to 15.5% in 2003, and about four in 10 beneficiaries spent at least one-fifth of their income on health care in 2003. Researchers using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey found…

  • Why Did Medicaid Spending Decline in 2006?  A Detailed Look at Program Spending and Enrollment, 2000-2006

    Issue Brief

    Why Did Medicaid Spending Decline in 2006? A Detailed Look at Program Spending and Enrollment, 2000-2006 This issue brief finds that Medicaid spending declined for the first time in the program’s 40-plus year history in Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, falling by 0.2 percent. The two major factors that underlie the 2006 decline, in addition to a more limited effect of the slowdown in per enrollee spending growth for a few key services, were the…

  • An Overview of Medicaid Enrollees with Diabetes in 2003

    Issue Brief

    Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death in the US in 2004 and is among the top 10 most expensive medical conditions on the country. Although more than one in seven diabetics in America rely on the Medicaid program for their health coverage, little is known about who they are or what the program spends on their behalf. This brief provides a first look at what Medicaid spends on the nearly 2 million enrollees…