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  • State Profiles Highlight Variations in How Many Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries Get Additional Help with Their Medicare Costs

    News Release

    Medicare beneficiaries with low incomes and modest assets can qualify for additional financial help with Medicare premiums and cost sharing through both the Medicare Savings Programs and Medicare’s Part D Low-Income Subsidy for prescription drug coverage. A new analysis and collection of interactive profiles highlight variations across states in the number and characteristics of beneficiaries who receive this additional financial assistance, including race and ethnicity, gender, and age. These findings reflect differences between states such…

  • Two New KFF Analyses Show That a Relatively Small Share of Medicare Beneficiaries Compared Plan Options Or Switched Plans During a Recent Open Enrollment Period

    News Release

    As Medicare’s annual open enrollment period gets underway, two new analyses from KFF suggest that a relatively small share of the nation’s 65 million Medicare beneficiaries will shop around among the many coverage options for 2023 or switch plans. That decision could have a significant impact on enrollees’ coverage and costs. Results from one new KFF analysis show that only 3 in 10 beneficiaries (29%) compared their current plan with other Medicare plans offered during…

  • Summary of Costs and Impact of the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Build Back Better Act

    News Release

    As the House-passed Build Back Better Act moves to the Senate, a new explainer from KFF summarizes the key prescription drug provisions within the broader budget reconciliation bill. These provisions would lower prescription drug costs paid by people with Medicare and private insurance and curb drug spending by the federal government and private payers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates federal budget savings from the drug pricing provisions would be $297 billion over 10 years. Although…

  • Medicare State Profiles

    Interactive

    These state profiles capture the variations across states in the number and characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries through the Medicare Savings Programs and Medicare’s Part D Low-Income Subsidy.

  • Medicare Advantage 2022 Spotlight: First Look

    Issue Brief

    For 2022, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 39 Medicare Advantage plans, the largest number of options available in the last decade, and can choose from plans offered by nine firms. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 59 percent will charge no premium in addition to the monthly Medicare Part B premium. As in previous years, the vast majority of Medicare Advantage plans will offer supplemental fitness, dental, vision,…

  • A Record 3,834 Medicare Advantage Plans Will be Available in 2022, Up 8 Percent From 2021, While the Number of Medicare Part D Stand-Alone Plans is Decreasing Mainly Due to Firm Consolidations

    News Release

    A record 3,834 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the country as alternatives to traditional Medicare for 2022, a new KFF analysis finds. That’s an increase of 8 percent from 2021, and the largest number of plans available in more than a decade. At the same time, the number of Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans that will be offered in 2022 is decreasing by 23 percent to 766 plans, primarily the result…

  • Estimates of Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Drug Spending in 2006

    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. This estimate is based on projected enrollment in Part D plans of 29 million (Congressional Budget Office, July 2004), prior to implementation of the drug…

  • 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…

  • Transitions 2006

    Video

    On January 1, 2006, the six million Americans who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid saw a change in how their prescription drugs are covered. The dual eligible population was transitioned from Medicaid into the Medicare prescription drug benefit. As a group, these beneficiaries are poorer and sicker than those on Medicare. Consequently, they have more extensive health and prescription drug needs than most Medicare beneficiaries.