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Medicaid spending on home and community-based service (HCBS) waivers dominates spending on community-based long-term care services offered through the Medicaid program. This paper examines trends in HCBS waiver enrollment and spending in recent years. Report (.pdf)
This paper identifies and examines consumer protection issues that arise from the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. Key issue areas include: beneficiary information, marketing, enrollment and disenrollment, the drug benefit package and cost-sharing, the appeals process, concerns for low-income beneficiaries, challenges for nursing home issues, and fraud and abuse. Report (.pdf)
Medicare Drug Discount Cards: A Work In Progress This report examines the early experience with the Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card Program, prices offered by card sponsors, and potential savings for enrollees. The report presents information about approved discount card programs, including sponsors, enrollment fees, and drugs covered, as well as beneficiary education and outreach efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The pricing analysis shows that discount cards can deliver savings off of…
This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. The analysis is based on a model developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The model generally conforms to the Congressional Budget Office’s assumptions and projections about Medicare drug benefit spending and participation rates for the new benefit and for the low-income subsidy. The report was released at a briefing in…
Key Implementation Dates for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit This timeline presents important dates and deadlines of key implementation activities related to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). It runs from the beginning of 2005 through the end of 2006, the first year of the new Medicare drug benefit. Some of these dates are defined in the MMA statute, while others are from the final rule issued by the Centers…
With short and long-term policy changes to the Medicaid program being discussed, its role in providing long-term care is receiving closer examination. Medicaid is the single largest source of financing for long-term care, accounting for nearly half of all the nation’s spending for long-term care services, and demographic trends are likely to place additional pressure on Medicaid. New attention is being focused on who relies on Medicaid for help with nursing home bills and how…
This fact sheet provides an overview of the role of Medicare and Medicaid in serving these beneficiaries; describes the health status of dual Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries, and discusses issues of managed care and access to care. Available in PDF format. Return to top Library Index
Three reports and a video collectively examine the range of health care needs and costs that people face today against the backdrop of the scope of health coverage that may be available to them under health reform. Children and Health Care Reform: Assuring Coverage That Meets Their Health Care Needs and Individuals With Special Needs and Health Reform: Adequacy of Health Insurance Coverage examine the needs of children and adults, respectively, focusing on those with…
This issue brief examines new opportunities under the health reform law for states to balance their Medicaid long-term care delivery systems by expanding access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) programs. The brief outlines key provisions of the new law that expand HCBS benefit options, broaden financial and functional eligibility criteria, and provide additional financial incentives for states to further shift their Medicaid long-term services budgets to non-institutional settings. Issue Brief (.pdf)
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new report on the implications of the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit for people living with HIV/AIDS. The report looks at the coverage and cost of antiretroviral drugs under the new private, stand-alone Medicare drug plans. Report (.pdf)
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