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Large majorities of the public hold favorable views of Medicare and Medicaid. While most people worry about Medicare’s sustainability for the future, they also view the debate in Washington about Medicare cuts as largely politics.
Voters are split largely along partisan lines in terms of who they trust in regard to various health care issues, but Biden captures more than Trump trust from Independent voters. Biden is also more trusted by older adults when it comes to entitlement programs. Voters are still largely unaware of the drug pricing provisions of the Inflation reduction Act. Large majorities of voters, particularly Democratic voters, support a federal right to abortion.
This brief provides an overview of Medicare spending and financing, based on the most recent historical and projected data from the Medicare Trustees and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The brief highlights trends in Medicare spending and key drivers of spending growth, including higher enrollment, growth in health care costs, and increases in payments to Medicare Advantage plans.
This Health Policy 101 chapter explores Medicare, a federal health insurance program covering more than 66 million people, established in 1965 for people age 65 or older and later expanded to cover people under age 65 with long-term disabilities. In addition to detailing Medicare eligibility, coverage, and spending, the chapter examines the increased role of private plans in providing benefits and the financing challenges posed by increasing health care costs and an aging population.
This brief outlines the potential health policy actions that President Biden could take using executive authority, based on campaign pledges, and actions that would reverse or modify regulations or guidance issued by the Trump Administration.
This primer providers an overview of certain delivery system reform models that are being examined in traditional Medicare, and explains model goals, financial incentives, potential beneficiary implications, and results so far with respect to Medicare spending and care quality. The primer discusses accountable care organizations, medical homes and bundled payments.
Under current law, physicians may choose to privately contract with their Medicare patients, though very few do.
Changes in Medicare’s private contracting laws could have significant implications for beneficiaries, doctors, and the Medicare program. This brief summarizes the three options that physicians and practitioners currently have for charging Medicare patients, explains how private contracting works in Medicare under current law, and reviews current proposals on changes to private contracting in Medicare, as well as their implications for patients, physicians, and the Medicare program.
PublicOpinionSinglePayerKFF Download For many years, Kaiser Family Foundation has been tracking public opinion on the idea of a national health plan (including language referring to Medicare-for-all since 2017).
This brief discusses how drugs provided in inpatient hospital settings are covered and reimbursed for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare under current law. This is relevant for Medicare spending on COVID-19 patients who receive Gilead’s new antiviral drug remdesivir. We discuss the implications for hospitals and the Medicare program of spending on remdesivir.
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