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This brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, including current data on plan availability, enrollment, and spending and financing, and highlights changes made under the Inflation Reduction Act.
This brief looks at premium changes for Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans between 2025 and 2026. For plans that were offered nationwide in 2025 and will continue to be offered in 2026, Part D enrollees in many states will see lower monthly premiums in 2026.
This Health Policy 101 chapter explores Medicare, a federal health insurance program covering more than 68 million people, established in 1965 for people age 65 or older and later expanded to cover people under age 65 with long-term disabilities. In addition to detailing Medicare eligibility, coverage, and spending, the chapter examines the increased role of private plans in providing benefits and the financing challenges posed by increasing health care costs and an aging population.
To better understand the growing role of Special Needs Plans (SNPs) in Medicare Advantage, this brief examines SNP enrollment trends using recent Medicare Advantage enrollment data published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
This analysis examines the recent growth of Medicare Advantage as a share of hospital inpatient days. Medicare Advantage rose from 13% to 25% of all inpatient days from 2015 to 2023, although there was wide variation among hospitals.
This brief provides information about Medicare Advantage plans in 2025, including premiums, out-of-pocket limits, supplemental benefits, and prior authorization, as well as trends over time.
In 2025, more than half (54%) of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. This brief provides current information about Medicare Advantage enrollment, by plan type and firm, and shows how enrollment varies by state and county.
Following a pledge by insurance companies to reduce the burden of prior authorizations, KFF's Health Tracking Poll examines the publics experience with the process. The poll finds that most view insurers' delays and denials as a problem, and few are aware of the newly announced pledge.
The Medicare Part D program provides an outpatient prescription drug benefit to more than 50 million older adults and people with long-term disabilities in Medicare who enroll in private plans, including stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) to supplement traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans (MA-PDs) that include drug coverage and other Medicare-covered benefits. This brief analyzes Medicare Part D enrollment and costs in 2025 and trends over time, based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
This brief focuses on the stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan marketplace and its somewhat uncertain future, in light of recent trends in plan availability and the potential for another year of premium increases in 2026, in part depending on what the Trump administration decides to do with the temporary Part D premium stabilization demonstration. The brief explains why the stability of the PDP market matters, both for people in traditional Medicare who want prescription drug coverage but also for the viability of traditional Medicare as an option vis a vis Medicare Advantage.
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