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  • The Part D Experience: What are the Lessons for Broader Medicare Reform?

    Event Date:
    Event

    Launched in 2006, Medicare added a prescription drug benefit that relies entirely on private plans, while, for other benefits, beneficiaries have a choice between private health plans and traditional fee-for-service Medicare. As policymakers consider changes to Medicare that would give an even greater role to private health plans in caring for Medicare’s nearly 50 million seniors and people with disabilities, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a policy workshop to examine how the Part D experience…

  • Prescription Drug Procurement and the Federal Budget

    Issue Brief

    This brief commissioned by the Foundation considers areas where Medicare faces limited opportunity for market-based competition and price negotiation to drive down drug spending. These areas include drug purchasing for low-income people enrolled in Part D plans who face minimal cost-sharing requirements, and purchasing certain unique drugs, such as biologicals, that have no therapeutic alternatives or competitors. Authored by Richard G. Frank of Harvard University, the brief discusses policy options that could lower Medicare spending…

  • Medicare Part D Spending Trends: Understanding Key Drivers and the Role of Competition

    Issue Brief

    This brief commissioned by the Foundation examines factors that contributed to Medicare's lower-than-expected spending on prescription drugs under the Medicare Part D drug benefit that started in 2006. Since its launch, Medicare has spent about 30 percent less on Part D benefits than the Congressional Budget Office originally projected. Some cite the program's design, with private plans competing for enrollment, as the driving factor in lower spending; others point to factors in the overall market…

  • Kaiser November Health Tracking Poll: Individual Elements of the ACA Popular with the Public

    Perspective

    After taking a negative turn in October, the public’s overall views on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) returned to a more mixed status this month. Still, Americans remain somewhat more likely to have an unfavorable view of the law (44 percent) than a favorable one (37 percent). The Kaiser Family Foundation's November Health Tracking Poll also finds that individual elements of the law are viewed favorably by a majority of the public. The law’s…

  • Medicare Part D 2011 Data Spotlights

    Report

    The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a collection of analyses related to the Medicare Part D stand-alone drug plan options available to seniors for calendar year 2011. These spotlights focuses on key aspects of the drug plan choices available and relevant trends since the Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006. They were prepared by a team of researchers at Georgetown University, NORC and the Kaiser Family Foundation. 2012 Part D Data Spotlights Now Available…

  • Medicare Part D Data Spotlight: A First Look at Part D Plan Offerings in 2012

    Report

    This data spotlight examines the stand-alone Part D drug plan options available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2012. Medicare beneficiaries will, on average, be able to choose from 31 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to choose from, a new Kaiser analysis finds. Average premiums would increase by 4 percent from 2011 to 2012 if beneficiaries remain with their current plans during the open enrollment period, which begins October 15 and December 31. That represents…

  • Analysis of Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2011 and Key Trends Since 2006

    Report

    This report presents findings from an analysis of the Medicare Part D marketplace in 2011 and changes in drug coverage and costs since 2006. It presents key findings related to Medicare drug plan premiums, the subsidy for low-income beneficiaries, the coverage gap, benefit design and cost sharing, formularies, and utilization management, based on data from CMS for all plans participating in Part D. The analysis was conducted jointly by Jack Hoadley and Laura Summer of Georgetown…

  • Medicare Part D 2011 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap

    Report

    This data spotlight examines the availability of gap coverage in the private Medicare Part D drug plans offered to beneficiaries in 2011, the first year of the phase-out of the gap, as required under the 2010 health reform law. The changes for 2011 include a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs purchased during the gap in coverage, reducing an enrollee’s potential out-of-pocket costs in the gap from about $3,600 to $1,800. The analysis was conducted…

  • Understanding The Effects of The Medicare Part D Coverage Gap in 2008 and 2009

    Report

    This Kaiser Family Foundation study examines how the coverage gap in Medicare’s drug benefit known as the “doughnut hole” affects Medicare beneficiaries and their prescribing patterns. Based on actual claims data from 2008 and 2009, before the 2010 health reform law began to close the gap, the study finds that most Part D enrollees with high drug costs who fall in the gap one year are likely to do so in future years. Enrollees who…

  • Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation

    Video

    This short Kaiser Family Foundation documentary profiles the experiences of three Medicare families trying to pay for their health care costs with other household spending. The families are among 16 featured in a companion report examining the role Medicare now plays in the lives of beneficiaries and the challenges many face in paying for their health care and other living expenses on a fixed budget.