Medicare’s Future

Published in a special Summer 2015 edition of the journal Generations on Medicare’s 50th anniversary, these six articles by KFF staff reflect on Medicare’s history, evolution and future, including a look at lessons and challenges, the Medicare and Medicaid partnership, coverage, the role of private plans, Medicare’s role for women, and the public opinion about the program.

Some higher-income Medicare beneficiaries will have to pay more in Part B and Part D premiums starting in 2018, due to a provision in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, a recently passed law to change how Medicare pays physicians. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds that,…

This data note presents new information to help set a context for understanding the implications of recent changes to Medicare’s income-related premiums incorporated in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), a new law to repeal and replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for physician payments. It describes current requirements with respect to the income-related premiums under Medicare Part B and Part D, including the number and share of Medicare beneficiaries who are estimated to pay income-related premiums and revenues raised from the income-related premium, based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT). It also explains the recently enacted changes in MACRA that will affect some higher-income people on Medicare who are already paying income-related premiums, beginning in 2018.

Written and produced by Foundation staff, The Story of Medicare: A Timeline serves as a visual timeline of Medicare’s history, including the debate that led to its creation in 1965 and subsequent changes, such as the passage and repeal of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act in the 1980s, the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003, and the Affordable Care Act.

Since 2007, seniors with incomes greater than $85,000 have had to pay higher premiums for Medicare than their counterparts with lower incomes.  Six percent of Medicare Part B enrollees are expected to pay higher monthly premiums in 2015, ranging from $147 to $336, depending on their income.  Lawmakers on Capitol…

In this Policy Insight, the Foundation’s Cristina Boccuti and Tricia Neuman examine how Congress’ effort to permanently stave off scheduled cuts in Medicare’s physician payments could affect what Medicare beneficiaries pay for their care — both in premiums and in other potential changes — to offset the cost of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) “doc fix.”

In this new Policy Insight, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Cristina Boccuti and Tricia Neuman examine how Congress’ effort to permanently stave off scheduled cuts in Medicare’s physician payments could affect what Medicare beneficiaries pay for their care — both in premiums and in other potential changes — to offset the…

On February 2, 2015, the Office of Management and Budget released President Obama’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2016, which includes provisions related to federal spending and revenues, including Medicare savings. The President’s FY2016 budget proposal would reduce net Medicare spending by $423 billion between 2016 and 2025, and is estimated to extend the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by approximately five years. This brief summarizes the Medicare provisions included in the President’s FY2016 Budget.

This policy insight examines the unexpected drop in Medicare’s per-beneficiary spending projections and its implications for beneficiaries and the program’s future.