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  • The Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy Program: Experience to Date and Policy Issues for Consideration

    Issue Brief

    This policy brief examines the low-income subsidy program that provides premiums and cost-sharing assistance under Part D plans, documenting trends in both beneficiary and plan participation over time. With fewer plans available to low-income enrollees without having to pay a premium, and annual changes in those plans, the brief discusses challenges facing low-income Part D enrollees and strategies that could be used to increase the effectiveness of the subsidy program. It was prepared for the…

  • Chronic Disease Prevention: Saving Lives, Saving Money

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored a July 13 luncheon briefing to discuss whether or not public health investments can help prevent chronic disease and reduce escalating health care costs. For more information, please visit the Alliance's event page. Full version: Video   Speakers for this session: The panel was moderated by Ed Howard of the Alliance. Ursula Bauer, CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion…

  • The High and Rising Costs Of Health Care: What Can Be Done?

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and several cosponsors held the final event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up and what (if anything) can be done about them. This briefing and others in the series take an in-depth look at a select few of the most often cited health care cost drivers. This briefing focuses on efforts to improve health and health care at lower…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Key Issues in Understanding the Economic and Health Security of Current and Future Generations of Seniors

    Issue Brief

    As part of broad deficit-reduction plans, policymakers are considering reforms to the nation's three major entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - that could significantly affect the economic security of seniors in their retirement years. This brief examines the role of these programs in ensuring seniors' financial security as well as the challenges facing current and future generations when it comes to economic and health security. Drawing from current research and data, the…

  • Among Dual Eligibles, Identifying The Highest Cost Individuals Could Help In Crafting More Targeted And Effective Responses

    Report

    This Health Affairs article by researchers at the Urban Institute analyzes linked Medicare and Medicaid data to examine dual eligibles' utilization and spending in both programs in 2007. It finds that while the population of people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid is indeed costly, it is not monolithic. For instance, although 20 percent of dual eligibles accounted for more than 60 percent of combined Medicaid and Medicare spending, nearly 40 percent of dual eligibles…

  • The Cost and Coverage Implications of the ACA Medicaid Expansion: National and State-by-State Analysis

    Report

    A central goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to significantly reduce the number of uninsured by providing a continuum of affordable coverage options through Medicaid and new Health Insurance Exchanges. Following the June 2012 Supreme Court decision, states face a decision about whether to adopt the Medicaid expansion. These decisions will have enormous consequences for health coverage for the low-income population. This analysis uses the Urban Institute’s Health Insurance Policy…

  • House Committee on Appropriations Releases FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) Appropriations Bill & Accompanying Report

    Fact Sheet

    The House Committee on Appropriations released its FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) appropriations bill on July 13, 2023 and accompanying report on November 3, 2023. The Labor HHS appropriations bill includes funding for U.S. global health programs provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and funding for global health research activities provided to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Total global health funding at…

  • Gross Medicare Spending on Ozempic and Other GLP-1s Is Already Skyrocketing – Even Though Medicare Cannot Cover The Drugs for Weight Loss

    News Release

    A KFF analysis shows that gross total Medicare spending on Ozempic and other similar drugs has increased dramatically in recent years – even though Medicare is explicitly prohibited by law from covering the drugs for obesity. That’s because Medicare now covers the drugs, known as GLP-1s, for other medically accepted indications, including to treat diabetes. This week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) informed Medicare drug plans that they can cover Wegovy, another…