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  • Explaining Health Reform: Medicare and the New Independent Payment Advisory Board

    Issue Brief

    This brief describes how the new board created under the 2010 health reform law is expected to limit the growth in Medicare spending over time. Starting in 2014, if projected per capita Medicare spending exceeds targets set in the law, the board must recommend ways to reduce Medicare spending, while maintaining quality and access to care for beneficiaries. The board’s recommendations automatically take effect the next year unless Congress adopts an alternative plan to achieve…

  • Summary of Key Changes to Medicare in 2010 Health Reform Law   

    Issue Brief

    Summary of Key Changes to Medicare in 2010 Health Reform Law . This brief provides a detailed look at the improvements in Medicare benefits, changes to payments for providers and Medicare Advantage plans, various demonstration projects and other Medicare provisions in the law. It includes a timeline of key dates for implementing the Medicare-related provisions in the law.

  • Pulling it Together: When Premiums Go Up 39%

    Perspective

    Our group that works on health care cost issues just updated an analysis that sheds light on what’s really happening to people in the individual health insurance market, the issue Secretary Sebelius, a former Kansas insurance commissioner, and others have put in the spotlight by calling on Anthem and other insurance companies to account for their proposed high premium increases. The analysis shows that people buying health insurance on their own in the individual market…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: Key Changes to the Medicare Part D Drug Benefit Coverage Gap

    Issue Brief

    On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. The health reform law, as modified by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 which passed the House of Representatives on March 21, 2010 and is under consideration in the Senate, makes several key changes to the Medicare Part D drug benefit to reduce Part D enrollees’ out-of-pocket liability when they reach the coverage gap, known as…

  • Pulling it Together: An Actuarial Rorschach Test

    Perspective

    Drew Altman, Larry Levitt, Gary Claxton My colleagues have worked on this column with me and I invited them to join me as authors. As with pretty much every other discussion of health care going back to the days of Roosevelt, the great reform debate of 2009 (and now 2010) has been distilled into an ideological battle over the role of government. A government-sponsored "public option" has been off the table for a while now,…

  • Health Insurance Coverage for Older Adults: Implications of a Medicare Buy-In

    Issue Brief

    As the Senate debates comprehensive health reform legislation, the idea of a Medicare buy-in option for uninsured adults aged 55-64 has re-emerged as a potential component of a reform plan. This Kaiser Family Foundation policy brief provides an updated profile of the more than 4 million uninsured people between ages 55 and 64 and examines historical proposals to allow uninsured older adults to purchase Medicare coverage. It also examines barriers to securing affordable coverage in…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: How Do Health Care Costs Vary By Region?

    Issue Brief

    Although regional variations in health spending have been studied for decades, there is renewed focus on this issue because of the role of health care costs in health care reform and the potential source of funds if addressing cost variations can yield savings. This explainer examines what is known about regional variations in health care costs and their relationship to quality of care, and addresses key questions about their role in health reform. Issue Brief…

  • Medicare Savings in Perspective: A Comparison of 2009 Health Reform Legislation and Other Laws in the Last 15 Years

    Issue Brief

    Although Medicare is not the main focus of current health reform legislation, the bill recently passed by the House—H.R. 3962, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009—and the bill before the Senate—H.R. 3590, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—include a number of provisions that would affect Medicare program expenditures. This policy brief considers the proposed 10-year Medicare savings and increased spending in the two proposals in the context of other laws enacted during the last…

  • Medicare Part D 2010 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap

    Report

    This data spotlight examines the coverage gap, or "doughnut hole," in Medicare stand-alone drug plans available in 2010. While in the gap in coverage, Part D enrollees (other than those receiving low-income subsidies) are required to pay 100 percent of total drug costs until they reach the catastrophic coverage level. In 2010, nearly all the private stand-alone drug plans have a coverage gap, though a small share do provide some help to beneficiaries in the…

  • Medicare Advantage 2010 Data Spotlight: Plan Availability and Premiums

    Issue Brief

    This data spotlight examines changes in the availability and premiums of private Medicare Advantage options for Medicare beneficiaries in 2010 as the annual open enrollment period begins. While the number of plans available in 2010 declined somewhat from 2009, the analysis finds that Medicare beneficiaries on average have 33 Medicare Advantage plans to choose from. For Medicare Advantage enrollees who stay in the same plan in 2010, monthly premiums will increase by 32 percent on…