Hispanics and the New Medicare Drug Benefit October 31, 2005 Poll Finding In a few short weeks, Medicare will undergo big changes that will have a major impact on more than 3 million Hispanic seniors and younger people with permanent disabilities who rely on Medicare for their health coverage. More than one in three Hispanics with Medicare lack coverage for their prescription…
Displaced by Hurricane Katrina: Issues and Options for Medicare Beneficiaries October 31, 2005 Issue Brief An estimated 200,000 Medicare beneficiaries were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Medicare played a key role in meeting the health care needs of the elderly and disabled beneficiaries who were displaced by the hurricane. Many of these beneficiaries face new challenges as a direct result of the hurricane. This issue brief…
Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act Implementation Timeline: June 2004 – December 2006 Key Dates May 30, 2005 Report Key Implementation Dates for the Medicare Prescription Drug BenefitThis timeline presents important dates and deadlines of key implementation activities related to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). It runs from the beginning of 2005 through the end of 2006, the first year of the new…
Low-Income Subsidies for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: The Impact of the Asset Test March 31, 2005 Report This study assesses the impact of the requirement that low-income people with Medicare meet an asset test in order to receive additional help paying premiums and cost-sharing under the new Medicare drug benefit.Report (.pdf)American Journal of Managed Care Article: Who Will Be Denied Medicare Prescription Drug Subsidies Because of the…
Profile and Analysis of the 26 Medicare Advantage Regions February 28, 2005 Issue Brief This issue brief examines the 26 new Medicare Advantage PPO regions and their implications for beneficiaries. The paper describes the characteristics of the new Medicare Advantage regions and the extent to which Medicare Advantage plans are already available in each region. It highlights the substantial gap between the current availability…
Summary of Final Regulations Implementing the New Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit January 31, 2005 Issue Brief This document summarizes the final regulations to implement the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The regulations were published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a final rule in the Jan. 28 Federal Register. It provides an overview that allows interested parties to obtain information about specific…
Summary of the Proposed Rule to Implement the New Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit November 30, 2004 Issue Brief In August 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a proposed rule to implement the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Title I of the Medicare Modernization Act). Given the high level of interest in the proposed rules for implementing the Medicare drug benefit, the Kaiser Family Foundation commissioned Health…
Prescription Drug Spending Under The MMA: Modeling The Impact On Out-of-Pocket Costs November 1, 2004 Event This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. The analysis is based on a model developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The model generally conforms to the Congressional Budget Office’s assumptions and projections…
Estimates of Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Drug Spending in 2006 November 1, 2004 Report This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. This analysis from November 2004 estimates that 6.9 million beneficiaries are projected to be affected by the coverage gap (the so-called “doughnut hole”) in the standard Part D drug benefit.…
Marketing and Privacy Issues: An Analysis of the MMA and Proposed Regulations September 2, 2004 Issue Brief This paper, by Joy Pritts of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, looks at issues related to drug plan marketing activities and privacy under the MMA.Issue Brief (.pdf)
