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This Data Spotlight provides an overview of Medicare Advantage enrollment patterns in March 2013, and examines variations by plan type, state, and firm. It also analyzes trends in premiums paid by beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, including variations by plan type, and describes the out-of-pocket limits and prescription drug coverage in the Part D “donut hole” provided by the plans in 2013.
10 Essential Facts About Medicare and Prescription Drug Spending November 2017 Download
This analysis focuses on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare Part D enrollees in 2016 for specialty, brand, and generic drugs. Part D drug plans differ considerably in the drugs they list on their formularies, their use of formulary tiers, and the level and structure of cost sharing applied to those tiers. Plan decisions affect different beneficiaries in different ways, depending on the drugs they use. The financial consequences for Part D plan enrollees can be…
Some Medicare Part D enrollees can expect to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for a single specialty drug in 2016, even though Part D plans provide substantial protection against catastrophic costs, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The findings illustrate how high prescription drug prices, one of the public's top health care concerns, pose a financial challenge not only for Medicare and other federal health programs but for people on Medicare…
This chartpack highlights demographic data about African Americans, Hispanics and whites with Medicare to highlight potential implications for outreach efforts under the new Medicare drug benefit. The information is being used in a series of November 2005 briefings at the start of the first open-enrollment period for the new benefit. Chartpack (.pdf)
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…
Despite initial controversy and uncertainties, Medicare Part D now provides drug coverage to thirty-nine million beneficiaries through dozens of private plans in each region. Although firmly established, the program faces challenges, including projected spending growth. Enrollees also face challenges as plans adopt new strategies to control costs.
Second Analysis Finds Modest Shifts in Medicare Advantage Plan Options When Medicare's 2016 open enrollment begins Oct. 15, current enrollees in stand-alone Medicare Part D plans are projected to face an average 13 percent increase in premiums if they remain in their current plan for 2016, a new analysis finds. Medicare Part D: A First Look at Plan Offerings in 2016 finds that for the coming year, the average beneficiary will have a choice of…
This slideshow explains key elements of the Medicare program, which now provides health coverage to 55 million people — including 46 million people age 65 and older and another 9 million younger adults with permanent disabilities.
This blog post revisits an earlier analysis of the drug Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) using new data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and considers both the ongoing impact of hepatitis C drugs for Medicare Part D and the broader implications for Medicare of new high-priced drugs entering the market.
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