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This paper, featured in the February 27, 2002, online issue of Health Affairs, examines trends in Medicare beneficiaries supplemental insurance and prescription drug coverage between 1996 and 1999, using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care files. It also provides snapshot estimates of coverage among subgroups of Medicare beneficiaries in 1999.
As part of The Faces of Medicare, a collection of fact sheets profiling the characteristics and health needs of different groups of Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare and the Under-65 Disabled highlights key information about Medicare's under-65 disabled, whose disproportionately high rates of health and cognitive problems are compounded by low incomes.
The Medicare beneficiary population is often described in homogenous terms, yet those covered by the program vary significantly in terms of their health, income, supplemental insurance status, and medical service use.
Although Medicare is a national program, there are substantial variations across states and regions in terms of beneficiary characteristics, health needs, and utilization of Medicare-covered services. Likewise, there are also considerable differences in Medicare spending and the emergence of Medicare managed care.
Medicaid and the Elderly September 1995 Medicaid is a crucial health financing program for the elderly population, providing assistance to over 1 in 10 Americans age 65 or older. Nearly four million elderly people receive Medicaid assistance with medical and long-term care expenses.
Medicare is a critical source of health insurance coverage for virtually all older women in the U.S. and for many younger women who have permanent disabilities. Today, 22 million women one in five adult women rely on Medicare for basic health insurance protection. In fact, women comprise 57% of the Medicare population.
Diane Rowland, executive director of the Commission, testified to the Subcommittee on Health of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce about providing prescription drugs to seniors. Her testimony includes discussion of Medicaid's role in providing outpatient drug coverage.
This brief compares the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program provisions in the new health reform law with pre-reform law governing those programs. The analysis focuses on Medicaid coverage and financing changes; how Medicaid and CHIP will interface with a new health insurance exchange and other Medicaid benefits and access changes.
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.
With recent policy debates about the future of Medicaid, the Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has created a resource page of recent publications that address key policy issues when examining Medicaid's role for high cost populations and in long-term care.
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