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This data note provides an overview of programs that help beneficiaries with modest incomes with their Medicare costs, including the Medicare Savings Programs and the Part D Low-Income Subsidy, and highlights findings from corresponding state-level profiles of eligibility and enrollment.
This brief provides an overview of the major health-related COVID-19 federal emergency declarations that have been made since early on in the pandemic, summarizes the flexibilities triggered by each, and identifies the implications for their ending, related to coverage, costs, and payment for COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines; Medicaid coverage and federal match rates; telehealth; access to medical countermeasures through FDA emergency use authorization (EUA); and other Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance flexibilities.
Voluntary efforts by drug companies to lower prices on selected medications, such as this new discounted price for Eliquis and previous price reductions on certain insulin products, could expand access to lower-priced drugs for some patients, but are not likely to improve prescription drug affordability in the U.S. on a widespread basis.
For 2023, the typical beneficiary has a choice of 43 Medicare Advantage plans as an alternative to traditional Medicare, a new KFF analysis finds.
For 2023, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 43 Medicare Advantage plans and can choose from plans offered by nine firms. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 66 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 benefits, including fitness, dental, vision, and hearing benefits. In addition, virtually all will also offer telehealth benefits in 2023.
This issue brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D marketplace in 2023 and key trends over time, focusing primarily on stand-alone Medicare drug plans, including plan availability, premiums, and cost sharing. The brief also describes the prescription drug provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that affect the Medicare Part D marketplace beginning in 2023
During the Medicare open enrollment period for 2020, Medicare beneficiaries had an average of 24 Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans and 28 stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans to choose from for their coverage. Despite having so many Medicare options, relatively few Medicare private plan enrollees opted to switch their coverage.
With the Biden administration’s announcement of the first 10 drugs to be negotiated for Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an array of legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry is potentially the biggest obstacle to implementation. On Tuesday, September 12, two legal experts and a health policy expert joined Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, for a 45-minute discussion about the legal issues underpinning these lawsuits and how they intersect with the policy goals of the legislation.
This brief examines how Part D enrollees’ access to and utilization of the first set of 10 selected drugs could be affected by the new Part D coverage and formulary requirements for selected drugs established by the Inflation Reduction Act and in CMS guidance, as well as the potential for lower out-of-pocket costs.
To capture the state of television marketing activities and consider the implications for people with Medicare, KFF analyzed ad data compiled by the Wesleyan Media Project, that were obtained from Vivvix (formerly Kantar) CMAG, a data analytics and consulting firm, and were coded by the Wesleyan Media Project in collaboration with KFF. The data set included all English-language TV ads that aired across national and local markets on broadcast television or national cable, from October 1st, 2022, through December 7th, 2022, the period that includes the Medicare open enrollment period for coverage in 2023.
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