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  • Displaced by Hurricane Katrina: Issues and Options for Medicare Beneficiaries

    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 identifies issues and challenges for individuals on Medicare affected by the hurricane and offers options for addressing these problems during the transition period. This issue…

  • The Obama Administration’s 2010 Call Letter for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans: Implications for Beneficiaries

    Issue Brief

    On March 30, 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the 2010 “call letter,” which functions as a request for proposals to private health insurers and organizations that want to sponsor Medicare Advantage Plans or Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. This issue brief reviews the call letter — the first issued by the Obama Administration — and examines the implications for beneficiaries of some of the proposed changes, including its emphasis on accountability of health plan sponsors, promoting…

  • Pitching Private Medicare Plans: An Analysis of Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan Advertising

    Other Post

    This Kaiser Family Foundation report analyzes the content and frequency of television, print and radio advertisement for private Medicare plans that ran nationally or in one of three local media markets (Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Greensboro, N.C.) during the marketing and enrollment period for 2008 plan offerings. All ads were identified by VMS, a media monitoring service. The study finds that insurers last year placed three times more advertisements to promote Medicare Advantage…

  • Medicare Advantage Plan Star Ratings and Bonus Payments in 2012

    Report

    This report looks at the star ratings that have been used for many years to help consumers compare plans, and examines how Medicare Advantage quality scores will interact with plan payments, beginning in 2012. To encourage Medicare Advantage plans to provide quality care, the 2010 health reform law authorized Medicare to pay plans bonuses beginning in 2012 if they receive four or five stars on the program’s five-star quality rating system, or are unrated. Building…

  • The Landscape of Private Firms Offering Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage in 2006

    Issue Brief

    describes key characteristics of the organizations that offer the new Medicare drug benefit and analyzes how companies are positioning themselves to attract Medicare enrollees. • Seven of the 10 organizations that sponsor stand-alone prescription drug plans nationwide are based in commercial insurance firms with substantial Medicare Advantage experience, and three of the 10 firms are in the pharmacy benefit management and service sector. • Nine of the 10 organizations that sponsor stand-alone prescription drug plans…

  • Visualizing Health Policy: The Role of Medicare Advantage

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic provides a snapshot of the role of Medicare Advantage plans, an alternative to traditional Medicare, including information about the proportion of Medicare beneficiaries who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, geographic differences in Medicare Advantage penetration, the trend of increasing enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans, and the concentration of enrollment within a small number of firms and affiliates. It also shows the extent that Medicare has been paying more for…

  • Medicare Spent an Average of 27% More on People Who Switched from Medicare Advantage to Traditional Medicare Compared to Those Who Were Only in Traditional Medicare

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis finds higher Medicare spending among people who switched from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare than for similar beneficiaries who were in traditional Medicare all along. Medicare spent an average of 27% more on such beneficiaries, according to the analysis, which examined health costs in traditional Medicare for both groups in the year following the switch, after adjusting for differences in health status and other characteristics. This amounts to a difference of…

  • Medicare Part D in 2024: A First Look at Prescription Drug Plan Availability, Premiums, and Cost Sharing

    Issue Brief

    Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage is available for people with Medicare who enroll in private plans, either a stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) for people in traditional Medicare, or a Medicare Advantage plan that covers all Medicare benefits, including prescription drugs (MA-PD). This issue brief provides an overview of Part D plan availability and premiums in 2024 and key trends over time.

  • With Medicare Open Enrollment Underway, Beneficiaries Typically Will Have a Choice of 43 Medicare Advantage Plans for 2024, Consistent with 2023 But More than Double The Number From 2018

    News Release

    With open enrollment underway, Medicare beneficiaries have until December 7th to review and select their coverage for 2024. They also have a lot of options to choose from, as two new KFF analyses show. For many beneficiaries, the first decision is whether to enroll in traditional Medicare (often with supplemental coverage and a stand-alone prescription drug plan) or Medicare Advantage, the private plans sponsored by insurance companies that now cover more than half of all…