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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 report updates a 1997 Foundation report to assess how states are implementing financial protections for the 16 million Medicare beneficiaries who are low-income. These protections, generally referred to as "buy-in programs," help low-income Medicare beneficiaries meet Medicare's cost-sharing requirements by using state Medicaid programs to pay either all or some portion of premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts. Using information collected through a survey of state Medicaid directors and consumer advocates, the update seeks to…
Long-Term Care: Medicaid's Role and Challenges This Policy Brief examines Medicaid's role in providing long-term care services. It describes long-term care services, the population that needs these services, and how people get long-term care services. It provides an overview of health insurance coverage of persons with long-term care needs and describes both Medicare's and Medicaid's role in providing these services. It also examines some of the policy issues and challenges involved in providing long-term care…
A side-by-side comparison of the original and revised Federal rule for new consumer protection and quality assurance requirements for Medicaid managed care. Side-by-Side Comparison
Tricia Neuman, Vice President and Director of the Medicare Policy Project testified before the House Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations on retiree health coverage for older Americans. The statement describes the health needs of aging adults and the importance of health insurance coverage at a time in their lives when they face increasing health problems. It then reviews insurance challenges facing both early retirees, as well as retirees who are 65 and older, against the backdrop…
Note: This publication is no longer in circulation. However, a few copies may still exist in the Foundation's internal library that could be xeroxed. Please email order@kff.org if you would like to pursue this option.
Consumer Protection Issues in Medicare + Choice This Report is available in PDF format.Return to top Consumer Protection Issues in Medicare + Choice
Background Health care benefits had been offered to active employees for a long period of time before health coverage became a retiree benefit offered by employers. The key event that made employer-sponsored retiree health care a possible benefit for retirees was the enactment of Medicare in 1965. It was then felt possible to provide a widely desired benefit at a relatively low cost, since the Medicare program would pay the majority of the costs. Millions…
As the 25th anniversary of Olmstead nears, more than one-in-10 working age adults have a disability and most do not receive public disability income. Over one-in-10 working-age adults reported having a disability in 2022. A disability is defined as having difficulty with hearing, vision, cognition, ambulation, self-care, or independent living, according to KFF's examination of data on people with disabilities from the American Community Survey. Fewer than a third of working-age adults with disabilities receive…
This issue brief describes key characteristics of SSI enrollees, explains the SSI eligibility criteria and eligibility determination process, and considers the implications of changes in the SSI program for Medicaid, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn as well as proposals supported by President Biden that Congress might consider.
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