Medicare’s Future

In this Wall Street Journal Think Tank column Drew Altman discusses how Republicans will assume ownership of health care’s policy and political problems as they assume control, and how that may affect their plans for the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and Medicare.

In this Washington Post op-ed, Drew Altman discusses how Republicans’ ideas to change Medicaid and Medicare and repeal the Affordable Care Act would fundamentally change the federal role in health, calling it: the biggest change in health we are NOT debating.

President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have committed to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). How do their replacement proposals compare to the ACA? How do they compare to each other? Includes the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson amendment (introduced 9/13/2017) as well as other proposals from key members of Congress.

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.

The October KFF Health Tracking Poll explores experiences with unpaid caregiving, and favorability of expansion of home and community based services (HCBS). It also examines experiences with difficulty affording and putting of health care services among seniors, favorability of the ACA and experience with determining eligibility for lower cost insurance as part of the COVID relief package.

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 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.

Large majorities, across party ID, age, and income, have favorable opinions of traditional Medicare in our July 2019 poll. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.