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Health Care Costs: A Primer
This primer on health care spending in the United States reviews the growth in health care spending since 1970 and the impact of health care costs on families and employers.
Issue Brief Read MoreHow Does the Benefit Value of Medicare Compare to the Benefit Value of Typical Large Employer Plans?: A 2012 Update
This study compares the value of Medicare’s fee-for-service benefits last year with the value of benefits in two large employer health plans — a large health plan serving federal employees and a typical large employer Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan. For individuals ages 65 and older, the study finds that…
Issue Brief Read MoreKey Issues in Understanding the Economic and Health Security of Current and Future Generations of Seniors
As part of broad deficit-reduction plans, policymakers are considering reforms to the nation’s three major entitlement programs – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – that could significantly affect the economic security of seniors in their retirement years. This brief examines the role of these programs in ensuring seniors’ financial security…
Issue Brief Read MorePrivate Insurance Benefits and Cost-Sharing Under the ACA
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released guidance on the two key components that determine the level of protection that private insurance plans will provide to consumers under health reform. The first involves the services that insurance plans must cover, and the second involves how much patients…
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Betting on Private Insurers
Just-released estimates of national health spending in 2010 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) show that 45% of our health care spending is financed by the federal and state governments, primarily through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This share has grown temporarily in recent years because of the…
Perspective Read MorePerforming Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012
The annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures and cost-sharing practices, conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, found that, despite continued fiscal pressures on states, eligibility policies remained stable in nearly…
Report Read MoreRestructuring Medicare’s Benefit Design: Implications for Beneficiaries and Spending
Several deficit-reduction plans have proposed combining Medicare’s separate deductibles for hospital and physician services, standardizing cost sharing across types of benefits, and establishing a new limit on annual out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study examines the potential implications of proposals to revamp Medicare’s cost-sharing requirements as…
Report Read MoreQuestions About Essential Health Benefits
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently issued its long-awaited report on defining the essential health benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As expected, the committee preparing the IOM report did not recommend which specific services should be covered, but rather discussed what the process should be for defining the essential benefits,…
Perspective Read MoreMedicare Part D Data Spotlight: A First Look at Part D Plan Offerings in 2012
This data spotlight examines the stand-alone Part D drug plan options available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2012. Medicare beneficiaries will, on average, be able to choose from 31 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to choose from, a new Kaiser analysis finds. Average premiums would increase by 4 percent…
Report Read MoreAverage Annual Premiums for Family Health Benefits Top $15,000 in 2011, Up 9 Percent, Substantially More than the Growth in Worker’s Wages, Benchmark Employer Survey Finds
NEWS RELEASE September 27, 2011 Average Annual Premiums for Family Health Benefits Top $15,000 in 2011, Up 9 Percent, Substantially More than the Growth in Worker’s Wages, Benchmark Employer Survey Finds About 2.3 Million Young Adults Added to Parents’ Plan As a Result of Health Reform At Small Firms, One…
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