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  • Best Bets for Reducing Medicare Costs for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries: Assessing the Evidence

    Report

    With pressure mounting to slow the growth in federal health care spending, policymakers are exploring ways to reform the way care is delivered to the 9 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries who also receive Medicaid – a group that on average is sicker and frailer than other Medicare beneficiaries, and therefore receive significantly more care at greater cost. Major efforts are underway at the federal and state level to better coordinate care for this population and…

  • Health Care and the 2004 Elections: Medicare Coverage and Financing

    Issue Brief

    Medicare Coverage and Financing Download a printable .pdf of Health Care and the 2004 Elections: Medicare Coverage and Financing. IssueBackgroundPolicy Challenges Facing MedicareAssessing Candidate PositionsIssue The Medicare program is a valuable source of health insurance coverage for more than 41 million Americans. Medicare enjoys broad public support, but the program faces a number of challenges in the years ahead, including the implementation of the new Medicare drug benefit beginning in 2006. Another issue pertains to…

  • Health Coverage and Expenses: Impact on Older Women’s Economic Well-Being

    Issue Brief

    In this article in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, researchers from the Kaiser Family Foundation examine how health issues that women face over the course of their lives, as well as policies that shape Medicare, Medicaid and other supplemental coverage, can affect retired women's economic well-being. They found that women's health care expenses were higher than men's; that older women paid for a greater share of their total spending out of pocket and that…

  • May Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Views of Health Reform Law Remain Unchanged

    Perspective

    This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll reveals little change in public opinion about the health reform law. Americans remain divided overall, with 42 percent having a favorable opinion of the law and 44 percent viewing it unfavorably. Three in ten continue to want to see the law expanded, while roughly one in five want it either kept as is (21%), repealed and replaced with a GOP alternative (19%), or repealed outright (19%). Americans continue to…

  • Prescription Drug Procurement and the Federal Budget

    Issue Brief

    This brief commissioned by the Foundation considers areas where Medicare faces limited opportunity for market-based competition and price negotiation to drive down drug spending. These areas include drug purchasing for low-income people enrolled in Part D plans who face minimal cost-sharing requirements, and purchasing certain unique drugs, such as biologicals, that have no therapeutic alternatives or competitors. Authored by Richard G. Frank of Harvard University, the brief discusses policy options that could lower Medicare spending…

  • Medicare and the President’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Proposal

    Fact Sheet

    Medicare and the President's Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Proposal This fact sheet summarizes key Medicare-related provisions in the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, as well as additional legislation that responds to the Medicare Trustees' "Medicare Funding Warning." Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Analysis of Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2011 and Key Trends Since 2006

    Report

    This report presents findings from an analysis of the Medicare Part D marketplace in 2011 and changes in drug coverage and costs since 2006. It presents key findings related to Medicare drug plan premiums, the subsidy for low-income beneficiaries, the coverage gap, benefit design and cost sharing, formularies, and utilization management, based on data from CMS for all plans participating in Part D. The analysis was conducted jointly by Jack Hoadley and Laura Summer of Georgetown…

  • Program Integrity: Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse

    Event Date:
    Event

    Headlines regularly call attention to pockets of fraudulent activity in the health care arena - scams that amount to millions and potentially billions of dollars. The stories typically focus on catching the crooks but not so much on efforts to prevent fraud, waste and abuse in health care programs. Both types of efforts are important. With continued concerns about rising health care costs and the current focus on deficit reduction, how much money can be…

  • Comparison of Medicare Premium Support Proposals

    Issue Brief

    This brief provides a side-by-side comparison of recent proposals to transform Medicare into a premium support program and slow the future growth in Medicare spending. These proposals each would convert Medicare from a defined benefit program, in which beneficiaries are guaranteed coverage for a fixed set of benefits, to a defined contribution or "premium support" program, in which beneficiaries are provided a fixed federal payment to help cover their health care expenses. The brief compares…