In all but four states, insurance companies can deny private Medigap insurance policies to seniors after their initial enrollment in Medicare because of a pre-existing medical condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, except under limited, qualifying circumstances, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds. Medigap policies provide supplemental health insurance…

This issue brief examines the latest facts about Medicare spending and financing, including the most recent historical and projected Medicare spending data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT), the 2018 annual report of the Boards of Medicare Trustees, and the 2018 Medicare baseline and projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It discusses historical and projected spending trends, program financing, Medicare’s financial condition, and the future outlook.

With rising concern over increases in prescription drug costs, the Trump Administration has proposed what it calls a “5-part plan” that would change several features of the Medicare Part D drug benefit. This brief describes the Administration’s five Part D proposals and discusses the potential implications for people with Part D prescription drug coverage and Medicare program spending, based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

Most Texans Don’t Know their State has the Nation’s Highest Uninsured Rate Texans’ top health care priorities for the state revolve around making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, reducing maternal mortality and increasing access to health insurance coverage, finds a new statewide Kaiser Family Foundation/Episcopal Health Foundation survey…

This interactive graphic illustrates how poverty rates among seniors in each of the 50 states change under two different Census Bureau measures of poverty: the official poverty measure and an alternative supplemental poverty measure, which takes into account health care and housing costs among other factors.

With the 2018 midterm elections still about ten months away, the January Kaiser Health Tracking poll examines what issues voters most want 2018 midterm candidates to talk about during their upcoming campaigns. Health care is at the top of a group of issues but health care is less important to Republicans and among voters in battleground states. While Congress is currently debating a budget to keep the government funded beyond February 8, 2018, the poll also examines the public’s priorities for President Trump and Congress and measures support for reducing federal funding for government programs.

Only One in Three Know the Tax Reform Law Repeals the ACA’s Unpopular Individual Mandate Health care and the economy and jobs top voters’ list as “the most important issue” for Congressional candidates to talk about ahead of November’s midterm elections, but the lineup shifts among voters in states and…

Drawing on his experience in state welfare reform, Drew Altman, in his Axios column, discusses how new state Medicaid work requirements differ fundamentally from welfare reform, which was built on the idea of a “reciprocal obligation” between both beneficiaries and government to do more.  

On Nov. 28, 2017, KFF held a public web briefing on the topic of delivery system reform in Medicare. It explored the latest evidence on savings and quality among newer payments models (including ACOs, bundled payments and medical homes), and discussed future directions that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services…

This month marks the start of the ACA’s fifth open enrollment period and finds three in ten of the public saying they haven’t heard anything at all about the current open enrollment period. Despite their overall views of the ACA, the majority of the public (61 percent) – including most Democrats (71 percent), independents (58 percent), and half of Republicans (52 percent) – say that because President Trump and Republicans in Congress are now in control of the government, they are responsible for any problems with the health care law moving forward. This month’s tracking poll also examines public support for two variations of a Medicare buy-in proposal.