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  • The Burden of Out-of-Pocket Health Spending Among Older Versus Younger Adults: Analysis from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1998-2003

    Issue Brief

    UPDATED: An updated version of this analysis is now available online. Recent policy debate has focused on the issue of rising health care costs and whether it might be possible to control costs by requiring consumers to pay a larger share of their health care costs out of pocket. While most of the policy discussion has focused on people of working age, rising health care costs and the burden of out-of-pocket spending also affects seniors,…

  • Briefing Examines High Medicare Spending for Beneficiaries in Long-Term Care

    Event Date:
    Event

    These three reports examine the relatively high use of hospital and other Medicare-covered services and the associated costs of medical care for Medicare beneficiaries who live in nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities. They also explore the potential for delivery system reforms to improve quality and reduce costs. Medicare Spending and Use of Medical Services for Beneficiaries in Nursing Homes and Other Long-Term Care Facilities: A Potential for Achieving Medicare Savings and Improving the Quality…

  • Proposed Changes to Medicare in the “Path to Prosperity”: Overview and Key Questions

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines key Medicare provisions included in "The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise," a long-term budget proposal released by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan on April 5, 2011, which outlines a strategy for reducing federal spending and reducing the national debt over time. The Medicare provisions are among the many significant changes to programs affecting the elderly and disabled in the "Path to Prosperity" proposal. The central Medicare proposal would transform the program…

  • The Budget Control Act of 2011: Implications for Medicare

    Issue Brief

    Beginning January 2013, Medicare spending will be subject to automatic, across-the-board reductions, known as “sequestration,” which is slated to reduce Medicare payments to plans and providers by up to 2 percent. This sequestration results from provisions in the Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the debt ceiling and will reduce net federal spending by $2.1 trillion over ten years. The Act was a bipartisan compromise negotiated between the Administration and Congressional leaders, just before…

  • Medicare’s Role for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries

    Issue Brief

    About 9 million low-income seniors and younger people with disabilities in the United States are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. This brief examines the role of Medicare in providing health coverage for these beneficiaries. Medicare is the primary source of health insurance, while Medicaid provides supplemental coverage, helping with premiums and cost-sharing and paying for services not covered by Medicare. This brief examines overall and per capita Medicare spending for these beneficiaries, including variations…

  • Special Needs Plans: Availability and Enrollment

    Report

    Special Needs Plans are a form of Medicare Advantage plan authorized to provide a managed care option for beneficiaries with significant or relatively specialized care needs, including Medicare beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, beneficiaries living in nursing homes or other institutions, and beneficiaries with severe chronic or disabling conditions. This data spotlight examines availability and enrollment trends for Special Needs Plans, which account for a small share of enrollment today but…

  • Medicare Prescription Drug Plans In 2010 and Key Changes Over Five Years

    Issue Brief

    This brief summarizes key findings from the full collection of 2010 Part D Data Spotlights examining key trends in the private stand-alone drug plans available to Medicare beneficiaries. The spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2010. The analysis was conducted jointed by Jack Hoadley and Laura Summer of Georgetown University, Elizabeth Hargrave of NORC at the University of Chicago,…

  • Medicaid Financing Issues: Provider Taxes

    Fact Sheet

    Current law allows states to use revenue from provider taxes to help fund the state share of spending on Medicaid, a program that is jointly financed by the states and the federal government. Almost all states have at least one provider tax in place. This issue brief reviews the use of provider taxes by states as a mechanism for financing the state share of Medicaid spending. It also explores the implications of recent proposed changes…

  • Raising Medicare Premiums for Higher-Income Beneficiaries: Assessing the Implications

    Issue Brief

    As policymakers consider ways to slow the growth in Medicare spending as part of broader efforts to reduce the federal debt or offset the cost of other spending priorities, some have proposed to increase beneficiary contributions through higher Medicare premiums. This issue brief explains provisions of current law that impose income-related premiums under Medicare Part B and Part D, describes recent proposals to modify these requirements, and analyzes the potential implications for the Medicare population.

  • Inside Deficit Reduction: What It Means for Medicare

    Event Date:
    Event

    Proposals to generate Medicare savings abound, from the various commissions recommending change, members of Congress and others. Which proposals will, or should receive serious considerations by the Congressional super committee in its quest to find $1.2 trillion or more in savings by its November 23 deadline? What impact would these changes have on beneficiaries, providers and insurers? Would stakeholders prefer the automatic, but capped, Medicare reductions in the sequester rather than any recommendations on Medicare…