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KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
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This issue brief provides an overview of the Independence Plus Initiative, compares core program features with the Cash and Counseling Demonstration program, and discusses several policy issues that arise in the implementation of this initiative. Issue Paper (.
About 9 million low-income seniors and younger people with disabilities in the United States are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. This brief examines the role of Medicare in providing health coverage for these beneficiaries.
Dual Eligibles: Medicaid's Role in Filling Medicare's Gaps - Issue Brief This paper presents a profile of dual eligible beneficiaries (those qualifying for both Medicare and Medicaid), describes their health care expenditures, and analyzes the distribution of spending on the population. Issue Paper (.
This fact sheet examines the similarities and differences between the five-year demonstrations in Massachusetts and Washington state to integrate care and align financing for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
This issue brief examines new opportunities under the health reform law for states to balance their Medicaid long-term care delivery systems by expanding access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) programs.
This report examines what policy lessons can be learned from the deinstitutionalization of people with mental illnesses and applied to potential long-term care reform for the elderly or those with significant disabilities. The study assesses the reforms that took place under deinstitutionalization, their impact and what mistakes were made.
Financing long-term care for the nearly 10 million Americans who need services and support to assist them in life’s daily activities continues to challenge the nation. While Medicaid is the nation’s major source of financing for long-term care services, paying for over 40% of total long-term care, its role is not well understood.
Medicaid’s Rehabilitation Services Option: Overview and Current Policy Issues In 2007, the President reintroduced a plan to place new restrictions on the types of services allowable under the Medicaid rehabilitation services option (called the rehab option) to yield federal budget savings of $2.29 billion over the next five years.
This new analysis and chartbook examines out-of-pocket spending among Medicare beneficiaries, including spending on health and long-term care services and insurance premiums, using the most current year of data available from a nationally representative survey of people on Medicare. It explores which types of services account for a relatively large share of out-of-pocket spending, which groups of beneficiaries (including by age, gender, health status, and chronic conditions) are especially hard hit by high out-of-pocket costs, and trends in out-of-pocket spending between 2000 and 2010.
With the passage of health reform, the Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration grant program was extended through 2016 giving states further options to transition Medicaid beneficiaries living in institutions back to the community.
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