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Zachary Levinson, Project Director of KFF’s Program on Medicare Policy, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means on April 26, 2023 as part of a hearing on Tax-Exempt Hospitals and the Community Benefit Standard.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government, including a number of changes to the Medicare Part D drug benefit. This brief provides an overview of the Part D benefit design and Part D enrollee cost-sharing requirements in 2023 and changes coming in 2024 and 2025.
This data note provides an overview of the role of the Medicare program for people with and at risk for HIV.
As some policymakers in Washington are pushing to reduce the federal deficit and debt, this brief provides a concise explanation of federal spending for domestic and global health programs and services, which could be part of any conversation about curbing federal spending. These FAQs answer basic questions about health spending and the federal budget and budget enforcement tools, including the debt limit and sequestration.
This slideshow explains the prescription drug provisions proposed in the Inflation Reduction Act as passed by the Senate
This data note estimates that the value of tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals was $28 billion in 2020. This amount exceeds estimated charity care costs among nonprofit hospitals in 2020 ($16 billion), though charity care represents only a portion of the community benefits reported by nonprofit hospitals.
This data note examines rural hospitals’ operating margins in recent years. After seeing higher margins early in the pandemic, likely due to government relief funds, rural hospitals now face renewed challenges, especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
Recent announcements by the Administration to improve the accuracy of payments and improve program integrity of Medicare Advantage are unlikely to have a major impact on the program, the insurance industry or beneficiaries, given relatively generous payments to plans and the robustness of the market for private Medicare plans.
This post provides an overview of how health care coverage and access will and won’t change when the public health emergency ends on May 11, including a discussion of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and telemedicine.
This brief provides an overview of the major health-related COVID-19 federal emergency declarations that have been made since early on in the pandemic, summarizes the flexibilities triggered by each, and identifies the implications for their ending, related to coverage, costs, and payment for COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines; Medicaid coverage and federal match rates; telehealth; access to medical countermeasures through FDA emergency use authorization (EUA); and other Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance flexibilities.
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