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This issue brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit plan landscape for 2020, with a focus on stand-alone drug plans, the largest segment of the Part D market. It includes national and state-level data on plan availability, premiums, benefit design, cost sharing, information about premium-free plans for low-income beneficiaries, and information about the national Part D plans available in 2020.
This analysis presents the most current data on out-of-pocket health care spending by Medicare beneficiaries, both overall and among different groups of beneficiaries. The analysis explores how much Medicare beneficiaries spend out of pocket in total on health care premiums and health-related services, on average; how much beneficiaries spend out of pocket on different types of health-related services; and what share of income beneficiaries spend on out-of-pocket health care costs.
In 2020, more than 22 million Medicare beneficiaries (34%) are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, which are mainly HMOs and PPOs offered by private insurers as an alternative to the traditional Medicare program. This data note provides an overview of the Medicare Advantage plans that will be available in 2020, including the variation in the number of plans available by county and plan type. The brief also examines the insurers entering the Medicare Advantage market…
While Medicare Advantage enrollment is highly concentrated among a small number of firms, UnitedHealthcare has seen the largest and fastest growing share of enrollees over the past decade. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.
This brief describes how the Medicare Part D benefit will change in 2020 under current law and proposed changes that would affect what beneficiaries, plans, manufacturers, and Medicare pay for drug costs under Part D in the future.
Medicare does not cover routine dental care and about half of Medicare beneficiaries do not have dental coverage. This brief examines five potential ways to make oral health care more available and affordable for the Medicare population. This brief reviews the limits of dental coverage permitted under current Medicare law, then describes each of the policy options, with an analysis of likely implications for key stakeholders, including Medicare beneficiaries, taxpayers, insurers, and dental professionals
Who pays for Medicare? Learn how Medicare financing breaks down in this Chart of the Week.
Take this quiz to find out how much you know about Medicare, the people it serves, the benefits it covers, and its financial status.
This data note explores the attitudes and experiences of older adults, ages 65 and up, when it comes to prescription drugs and related policy proposals being discussed. Experiences across different demographic groups are explored, such as household income and health status.
This brief examines the role private insurers play in providing health coverage for Americans today in employer plans and the individual market, as well as in Medicare and Medicaid, and how that would likely change under Medicare-for-all and other proposals.
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