Kaiser Family Foundation Resources on Deficit-Reduction Debate October 31, 2012 Report These Foundation resources shed light on how the ongoing national debate about deficit reduction may affect Medicare, Medicaid and other health-care programs. These resources include analysis of specific savings proposals, polling on the public’s views of deficit-reduction options, summaries and comparisons of relevant elements of major deficit-reduction plans, and explanatory…
The Nuts and Bolts of Medicare Premium Support Proposals June 8, 2011 Issue Brief In April 2011, as part of its 2012 budget resolution, the U.S. House included a proposal to reduce Medicare spending by transforming the program into a system sometimes called “premium support” or vouchers. Such an approach also has been a central element of other proposals by national leaders seeking to…
Transforming Medicare into a Premium Support System: Implications for Beneficiary Premiums September 30, 2012 Report This study illustrates why geography would matter for Medicare beneficiaries under a premium support system that relies on a competitive bidding process envisioned under several key Medicare reform proposals. It examines potential changes in the premiums paid by Medicare beneficiaries under a payment approach that caps federal contributions per beneficiary…
Restructuring Medicare’s Benefit Design: Implications for Beneficiaries and Spending October 31, 2011 Report Several deficit-reduction plans have proposed combining Medicare’s separate deductibles for hospital and physician services, standardizing cost sharing across types of benefits, and establishing a new limit on annual out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study examines the potential implications of proposals to revamp Medicare’s cost-sharing requirements as…
Raising Medicare’s Age of Eligibility to 67 Would Achieve Significant Savings, But Shift Costs To 65- and 66-Year-Olds, Other Individuals, Employers and Medicaid, New Analysis Shows July 18, 2011 News Release Study Estimates Two in Three People Ages 65 and 66 Would Pay $2,200 More On Average For Health Care in 2014 Than They Would If They Remained in Medicare MENLO PARK, Calif. — Raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67 in 2014 would generate an estimated $5.7 billion in…
Key Issues in Understanding the Economic and Health Security of Current and Future Generations of Seniors March 3, 2012 Issue Brief As part of broad deficit-reduction plans, policymakers are considering reforms to the nation’s three major entitlement programs – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – that could significantly affect the economic security of seniors in their retirement years. This brief examines the role of these programs in ensuring seniors’ financial security…
Raising Medicare Premiums for Higher-Income Beneficiaries: Assessing the Implications January 13, 2014 Issue Brief As policymakers consider ways to slow the growth in Medicare spending as part of broader efforts to reduce the federal debt or offset the cost of other spending priorities, some have proposed to increase beneficiary contributions through higher Medicare premiums. This issue brief explains provisions of current law that impose income-related premiums under Medicare Part B and Part D, describes recent proposals to modify these requirements, and analyzes the potential implications for the Medicare population.
Raising the Age of Medicare Eligibility: A Fresh Look Following Implementation of Health Reform July 18, 2011 Report Several major deficit-reduction and entitlement reform proposals include raising Medicare’s age of eligibility from 65 to 67 as a way of improving Medicare’s solvency. This Kaiser Family Foundation report estimates the expected effects of such a change on the federal budget, as well as on affected seniors’ out-of-pocket costs, employers,…
Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation June 1, 2011 Video This short Kaiser Family Foundation documentary profiles the experiences of three Medicare families trying to pay for their health care costs with other household spending. The families are among 16 featured in a companion report examining the role Medicare now plays in the lives of beneficiaries and the challenges many…
Testimony: An Overview of the Medicare Program and Medicare Beneficiaries’ Costs and Service Use February 27, 2013 Event Juliette Cubanski, Associate Director of the Foundation’s Program on Medicare Policy, testified on Feb. 27, 2013 before the Senate Special Committee on Aging to provide an overview of the Medicare program and Medicare beneficiaries’ costs and service utilization. Testimony (.pdf)