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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.
This brief reviews findings from recent studies that compare Medicare and private health insurance payment rates for both hospital and physician services.
On March 4, 2014, the Office of Management and Budget released President Obama’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2015, which includes provisions related to federal spending and revenues, including Medicare savings. The President’s budget would use federal savings and revenues to reduce the federal debt and replace sequestration of Medicare and other federal programs for 2015 through 2024. This brief summarizes the Medicare provisions included in the President’s budget proposal for FY 2015.
Senior Vice President Patricia Neuman testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging as part of its hearing entitled Income Security and the Elderly: Securing Gains Made in the War on Poverty. As part of her testimony, she presented segments from a Foundation-produced video that highlights what it means to be old and poor in our country.
In an effort to simplify Medicare’s cost-sharing requirements, provide beneficiaries with catastrophic protection, and achieve program savings, some have proposed to restructure Medicare’s benefit design. Several recent proposals would create a unified deductible for Medicare Parts A and B, simplify cost-sharing requirements above the deductible, and add an annual limit on beneficiary out-of-pocket spending—a benefit feature typical of larger employer plans, but lacking in traditional Medicare. This issue brief describes the options for adding an out-of-pocket spending limit to Medicare and examines the operational issues that could arise in implementing both a uniform and an income-based out-of-pocket spending limit. Because the implementation of an income-related out-of-pocket maximum would pose somewhat greater complexity for Medicare, the operational issues associated with this approach are discussed in greater detail.
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.
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.”
This issue briefs lays out 10 reasons why Medicare Advantage enrollment has been growing and why we can expect more growth in the years to come.
This data note from the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll explores the public's views on Medicare drug price negotiation, including how arguments on both sides impact support and opposition; confidence in leaders to do the right thing on drug pricing; and experiences with prescription drug costs.
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 face in paying for their health care and other living expenses on a fixed budget.
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