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The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) included many provisions affecting the Medicare program and the 57 million seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare for their health insurance coverage. This brief explains the Medicare provisions in the ACA and explores the implications for Medicare and beneficiaries of repealing these provisions.
As Republican policymakers consider how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), they are likely to face a number of decisions about whether to retain any of the law’s changes to Medicare. Repealing the ACA has potential implications for Medicare spending, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation brief. A full repeal of the ACA would undo all of the law’s changes to Medicare and would increase Medicare spending,…
This primer providers an overview of certain delivery system reform models that are being examined in traditional Medicare, and explains model goals, financial incentives, potential beneficiary implications, and results so far with respect to Medicare spending and care quality. The primer discusses accountable care organizations, medical homes and bundled payments.
Among beneficiaries who died in 2014, Medicare spent significantly more per person on medical services for seniors in their late sixties and early seventies than on older beneficiaries, according to a new data note from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The analysis comes at a time when physicians can now be reimbursed by Medicare for end-of-life care discussions with their patients. The analysis of Medicare claims data through 2014 finds that among those who died in…
This data note provides a snapshot of Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2014 and their Medicare spending at the end of life. It examines Medicare per capita spending trends over time since 2000 and in 2014, both overall and by type of service, for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare who died in a given year compared to those who survived the year.
The number of rural hospital closures has increased significantly in recent years. This trend is expected to continue, raising questions about the impact the closures will have on rural communities’ access to health care services. To investigate the factors that contribute to rural hospital closures and the impact those closures have on access to health care in rural communities, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Urban Institute conducted case studies of…
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of private Medicare plan networks finds that Medicare Advantage plans include about half of area hospitals in their network, on average, while one in five plans have no Academic Medical Center in-network. Among plans in an area with a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, more than two in five did not include the cancer center in their network. The new study of the hospital networks of Medicare Advantage plans, which…
This report takes an in-depth look at Medicare Advantage plans’ hospital networks. The analysis draws upon data from 409 Medicare Advantage plans serving beneficiaries in 20 diverse counties that together accounted for about one in seven (14%) Medicare Advantage enrollees nationwide in 2015. The report examines the size and composition of plans’ hospital networks, the variation across counties, the inclusion of Academic Medical Centers and NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, and the relationship between network size and…
The Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions have benefited hospitals financially, helping to produce an overall decline nationwide in uncompensated care from $34.9 billion to $28.9 billion in 2014, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly all of the decline occurred in Medicaid expansion states, where uncompensated care costs were $10.8 billion in 2014 – down $5.7 billion, or 35 percent, from 2013, the year before ACA coverage expansions took full effect. The…
Medicaid payments to hospitals, which include base and supplemental payments, play an important role in hospital finances and can affect beneficiaries’ access to care.This brief provides an overview of Medicaid payments for hospitals and explores the implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion, including changes in uncompensated care, as well as payment policy changes on hospital finances.
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