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This brief provides an overview of Medicare spending and financing, based on the most recent historical and projected data from the Medicare Trustees and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The brief highlights trends in Medicare spending and key drivers of spending growth, including higher enrollment, growth in health care costs, and increases in payments to Medicare Advantage plans.
Recently released data show that Medicare Advantage, the private plan alternative to traditional Medicare, now covers half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries. As the role of Medicare Advantage grows, so will interest in understanding how well the program serves the increasingly diverse group of enrollees who receive their Medicare coverage from private insurers.
This Health Policy 101 chapter explores Medicare, a federal health insurance program covering more than 66 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.
This brief examines the final CMS regulations governing prior authorization in Medicare Advantage, Marketplace, Medicaid, and other plans, how they might address some current consumer concerns, and some issues that remain.
This brief examines 10 key facts about women with Medicare and presents new statistics on the health, economic and functional status of women with Medicare.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has recently taken actions to increase transparency in Medicare Advantage, however substantial data gaps remain that limit the ability of policymakers and researchers to conduct oversight and assess the program's performance, and for Medicare beneficiaries to compare Medicare Advantage plans offered in their area.
A record 3,148 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the country as alternatives to traditional Medicare, a new KFF analysis finds.
This data note analyzes the number and variety of Medicare Advantage plan choices available to beneficiaries, and also describes changes in the health care insurers offering private health plans in 2018. This spotlight is part of a series of spotlights tracking key changes in the Medicare Advantage program.
Medicare Advantage plan networks included 46 percent of all physicians in a county, on average, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This issue brief analyzes the number and variety of Medicare Advantage plan choices available to beneficiaries in 2017. It describes trends in number of Medicare Advantage plans and plan quality ratings, and new information on plan premiums, out-of-pocket expense limits, and other plan features. This spotlight is part of a series of spotlights tracking key changes in the Medicare Advantage program.
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