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 Part D plans and half of Medicare Advantage plans will offer some type of gap coverage. Among those that do offer some coverage in the gap, the gap coverage is mainly for generic drugs. Nationwide, only one stand-alone drug plan and 16 percent of all Medicare Advantage drug plans offer coverage for at least some brand-name drugs in the gap. The spotlight also looks at enrollment in plans with gap coverage, as well as trends in the availability of gap coverage over time.

The spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2008. The analysis was conducted jointly by Jack Hoadley and Jennifer Thompson of Georgetown University, Elizabeth Hargrave and Katie Merrell of NORC at the University of Chicago, and Juliette Cubanski and Tricia Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Data Spotlight (pdf)

This chartpack provides detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries’ enrollment in the many private drug plans available to them in 2007. The charts demonstrate that a relatively small number of companies which captured the most enrollees in 2006, the new benefit’s first year, continued to lead in market share in the current year. In addition, most enrollees in 2007 are in plans without gap coverage – with about 11.8 million people potentially at risk for reaching the benefit’s coverage gap and having to pay the full cost of their drugs.

Chartpack (pdf)

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 that growth in out-of-pocket health spending outpaced growth in income over time.

The article, “How Much ‘Skin In The Game’ Do Medicare Beneficiaries Have? The Increasing Financial Burden of Health Care Spending, 1997-2003,” was written by Patricia Neuman, Sc.D., and Juliette Cubanski, Ph.D., of the Kaiser Family Foundation; and Katherine A. Desmond, M.S., and Thomas Rice, Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles. The study’s findings were published in the November/December 2007 issue of the journal Health Affairs.

Health Affairs article (Requires subscription)

This document contains the detailed toplines from the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – October 2007.

 Toplines (.pdf)

This document presents key findings from the October 2007 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, which tracks changes in the saliency of health as a political and policy priority, what the public’s priorities are for a health reform plan and whether any candidates are breaking through with the public with their health reform plans

 Key Findings (.pdf)

This October 2007 tracking poll finds health care ranks second behind Iraq as an issue that the public wants the candidates to talk about.  The rankings hold not only for Democrats and independents, but also for Republicans.

When asked to name the two issues that they want to hear the presidential candidates talk about, people overall are most likely to name Iraq (44 percent), followed by health care (38 percent), the economy (18 percent) and immigration (12 percent).  Among Republicans, 30 percent name health care as one of the top two issues – the highest share recorded for that group since the tracking poll began in March 2007.

The poll also examines the specific aspects of health care that the public wants candidates to address, as well as their perceptions of the presidential candidates on health issues.

This latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, the fourth in a series, was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation. A nationally representative random sample of 1,204 adults was interviewed by telephone between October 1 and October 10, 2007. The margin of sampling error for the survey is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for results based on subgroups, the sampling error is higher.

Key Findings

Topline

Medicaid Enrollment and Spending Trends

This fact sheet summarizes trends of enrollment and spending in the Medicaid program from 2000 to 2006.

Fact Sheet, October 2007 (.pdf)

Previous Versions:

May 2006 (.pdf)

June 2005 (.pdf)

February 2001 (.pdf)

September 1999 (.pdf)

October 1998 (.pdf)

As Tough Times Wane, States Act to Improve Medicaid Coverage and Quality: Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008

The annual 50-state survey of state officials on Medicaid and state budget actions reports enrollment in Medicaid declined for the first time in nearly a decade. The 0.5 percent enrollment decline in fiscal year 2007 was driven primarily by two factors. States reported that the new citizenship documentation requirements were causing significant delays in processing applications, affecting mostly individuals already eligible for the program. State officials also cited the good economy and lower unemployment for reducing enrollment. Faced with an improving economy, 42 states expect to expand coverage to the uninsured in the next year.

Executive Summary (.pdf)

Full Report (.pdf)

This report from The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Task Force on HIV/AIDS, in collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation, examines the current global HIV prevention response by the United States under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and outlines challenges to opportunities for heightening a focus on HIV prevention in the next phase of the U.S. response.

Report (.pdf)

These toplines present detailed survey results from an October 2007 survey conducted jointly by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health on the public’s views and opinions of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the pending legislation surrounding its reauthorization.

Toplines (.pdf)