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Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act is a top priority of the Trump Administration and the Republican leadership, which could have implications for the Medicare program. This brief provides a side-by-side comparison of the Medicare-related provisions in six bills and proposals that would repeal the ACA, excluding proposals that would not directly affect Medicare.
A record 3,148 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the country as alternatives to traditional Medicare, a new KFF analysis finds. That’s up 15% from last year’s 2,734 plans and results in a typical beneficiary having 28 plans available to them in their local market for the 2020 Medicare open enrollment period, which began Oct. 15 and runs until Dec. 7. About 22 million Medicare beneficiaries - a third of all beneficiaries - are…
Three key private health insurance markets -- Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market -- appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or fully-insured market. The future of these markets has become a focus for policymakers amid the debate over Medicare for All.
Three key private health insurance markets -- Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market -- appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers, according to a new KFF analysis. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or fully-insured market, the analysis finds. The future of these markets has become a focus for policymakers amid the debate over Medicare for All. Some proposals…
Twenty-nine percent of new beneficiaries chose to enroll in Medicare Advantage during their first year in Medicare in 2016, finds a new KFF analysis. That level generally matches the overall share of beneficiaries who opted for Medicare Advantage that year, but does not support the view that the aging Baby Boom generation, having had more experience with HMOs and PPOs during their working years, would select the private plans over traditional Medicare at relatively high…
Almost two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries (65%), or nearly 37 million people, do not have dental coverage and many go without needed care, according to a new KFF brief on dental coverage and costs for Medicare beneficiaries. Rates are even higher among black and Hispanic beneficiaries, and those with low incomes. Medicare does not cover routine preventive dental care or more expensive dental services that are often needed by older adults. Lack of dental care can lead…
This report takes an in-depth look at Medicare Advantage plans’ physician networks. The analysis draws upon data from 391 Medicare Advantage plans serving beneficiaries in 20 diverse counties in 2015. The report examines the size and composition of plans’ physician networks, the variation across counties, the inclusion of physicians by specialty, and the relationship between network size and other plan features, such as premiums and quality star ratings.
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. The study, using 2015 data, is the first to examine the size and composition of physician networks among increasingly popular Medicare Advantage private plans, which now cover 19 million people, or one-third of the Medicare population. The study, which analyzed data from 391 plans offered by 55 insurers in a…
A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 147 counties lack Medicare Advantage plans – many more than the 19 counties expected to lack an Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace insurer next year. Yet Medicare Advantage, the private plans that cover a third of all Medicare beneficiaries, is often described as an example of a robust insurance market, while some policymakers say the “bare” counties under the ACA are evidence that the law…
Gretchen Jacobson, Associate Director of the Foundation's Program on Medicare Policy, testified on June 7, 2017 before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health. Her testimony focused on three approaches for integrating and coordinating care for Medicare beneficiaries, and the opportunities and challenges presented by these approaches.
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