This document provides a side-by-side comparison of four major federal proposals under consideration to provide outpatient prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries. It begins with a summary table comparing key features of each proposal, followed by a detailed comparison of the following major proposals: Clinton/Moynihan (The Medicare Modernization Act), House-Passed Plan (The Medicare Rx 2000 Act), Breaux/Frist (The Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act), and Graham/Bryan/Robb (The Medicare Outpatient Drug Act of 2000).

• Side-by-side

Immigrants account for 20 percent of the uninsured. There are many reasons for immigrants’ lack of coverage, but the welfare reform law of 1996 was significant in restricting Medicaid eligibility for certain immigrant populations. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has produced new reports on immigrant health care: a chart pack highlighting statistics and a policy brief discussing the legal status of Medicaid eligibility. An issue paper summarizing the findings of immigrant focus groups in four cities will be posted soon.

• Policy Brief: Medicaid Eligibility and Citizenship Status: Policy Implications for Immigrant Populations
• Report: Immigrants’ Health Care: Coverage and Access

A policy brief that provides an overview of Medicaid eligibility and citizenship status, including a discussion of recent legislative changes.

• Policy Brief

This report examines the implications for Medicare beneficiaries of leading approaches to provide coverage for prescription drugs, looking at coverage, benefit levels and out-of-pocket spending.

• Report

National Public Radio/Kaiser Family Foundation/Kennedy School of Government Survey on Americans’ Attitudes Toward Government

This survey, conducted by National Public Radio/Kaiser Family Foundation/Kennedy School of Government, looks at Americans’ attitudes toward government. The survey finds that while most Americans say they distrust government, they still want more government involvement to solve the nation’s problems. Nearly a six out of ten Americans believe that the federal government does what is right only some of the time, and another 10 percent say it never does what is right. Despite these negative feelings, however, Americans are more confident than they were five years ago that the federal government can be effective. The findings are based on a telephone survey conducted with 1,557 adults, 18 years or older between May 26 and June 25, 2000. Survey results can also be viewed on NPR’s web site (July 2000).

• Toplines/Survey
• Summary of Findings

Issues in the 2000 Election: Health Care

The Washington Post/Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University national survey on “Issues in the 2000 Election: Health Care” is the second in a series of surveys examining policy issues in the 2000 national elections. This survey, conducted July 5-18, 2000, of a nationally representative sample of registered voters also included an oversample of “health care or Medicare-oriented” registered voters. This survey and all surveys in this series, are designed to provide a more in-depth look at the attitudes of issue-oriented voters and compare them to registered voters in general. Results from this survey were released by The Washington Post in July 2000.

• Toplines/Survey

This report examines the potential savings for employers who currently represent the largest source of drug coverage for seniors. The study finds substantial savings for large employers under comprehensive Medicare prescription drug proposals ranging from $5-8.5 billion in 2003 to $10-$15 billion in 2009. It also finds that the majority of large employers are likely to retain retiree coverage, as a supplement to a Medicare drug benefit.

• Report

Prescription Drug Trends – A Chartbook, an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Sonderegger Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about trends in prescription drug coverage, spending, prices, use, and industry structure. Although overall coverage for prescription drugs has increased over the last decade, about a quarter of the nonelderly and a third of Medicare beneficiaries have no drug coverage. Spending for prescriptions is one of the fastest growing components of health care, with increases affected more by increased utilization and changes in the types of drugs used (from older drugs to newer, more expensive drugs) than by price increases for existing drugs.

This is an update of an earlier report also prepared by The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), with support from the Foundation. That report was the product of a 1996 meeting of people with HIV, their advocates, and researchers designed to provide information about Medicaid managed care for people with HIV. This new report updates information to reflect changes in the policy and regulatory environment since that time.

Report (.pdf)

This new report, prepared by NAPWA with support of the Foundation, grew out of a key recommendation in the Making Medicaid Managed Care Work report, and is designed to provide people with HIV and their advocates with the tools for understanding Medicaid managed care contracts and for working with states to make them responsive to the needs of people with living with HIV.

Report (.pdf)