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This issue brief draws on features of the various existing Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) programs to identify key policy questions raised by initiatives to streamline Medicaid HCBS, ameliorate institutional bias, and improve administrative simplification.
As Congress and other policymakers weigh potentially major changes to the Medicare program as part of the deficit-reduction debate, this Kaiser Family Foundation report highlights the role Medicare now plays in the lives of beneficiaries and the challenges many face in paying for their health care and other living expenses on a fixed budget. Based on detailed profiles of 16 Medicare families, the report examines beneficiaries' incomes, retirement savings and routine expenses, including health care…
Most people with Medicare pay the standard monthly premium for Part B and Part D coverage, which is set to cover 25 percent of per capita program costs, but a relatively small share of beneficiaries with higher incomes are required to pay higher premiums. This issue brief describes the legislative history of Medicare's income-related premiums and changes to these premiums that will take effect in 2019, based on a provision in the Bipartisan Budget Act…
A new Kaiser Family Foundation brief and interactive map provide the latest national and state-level estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau of the share and number of people ages 65 and older who are living in poverty. The resources examine poverty among seniors under the official poverty threshold ($11,756 in income for an individual age 65 or older in 2017), and under an alternative measure of poverty known as the Supplemental Poverty Measure. That measure,…
Gaps Between Average Income of the Richest and Poorest Households in the United States Download Source Economic Policy Institute/Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Data. Income is post-federal. tax and includes the value of the EITC, food stamps, and housing subsidies. Income is adjusted for inflation (to 2009 dollars) and for household size. Pulling Apart, A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends, November 15, 2012, http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3860
In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses why seniors need to be included in the national discussion on income inequality, especially as proposals to change Medicare and Social Security are considered.
This issue paper updates the July 1999 report and provides a general overview of federal Medicaid eligibility policy for the low-income disabled population. This paper focuses on four broad groups of individuals with disabilities: children under 18; adults under 65 who are not living in institutions; adults under 65 who are living in institutions; and adults under 65 who are also eligible for Medicare. In addition, this paper includes the new eligibility options offered under…
Medicaid is an important source of health insurance coverage for people with disabilities. This issue brief explains how Medicaid eligibility and benefits for people with disabilities are affected by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules as of 2014. Marketplace rules are discussed to the extent that they relate to Medicaid eligibility determinations for people with disabilities.
This interactive tool describes the income, savings and home equity of people on Medicare in 2013, and in 2030. It allows users to break out the data by age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status and education level, providing insight into the disparities within and across categories of beneficiaries.
Senior Vice President Patricia Neuman testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging as part of its hearing entitled Income Security and the Elderly: Securing Gains Made in the War on Poverty. As part of her testimony, she presented segments from a Foundation-produced video that highlights what it means to be old and poor in our country.
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