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This issue brief analyzes the number and variety of Medicare Advantage plan choices available to beneficiaries in 2017. It describes trends in number of Medicare Advantage plans and plan quality ratings, and new information on plan premiums, out-of-pocket expense limits, and other plan features. This spotlight is part of a series of spotlights tracking key changes in the Medicare Advantage program.
With Medicare Part D nearing the end of its tenth year, the program -- which now provides drug coverage to 72 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries -- has experienced no growth in average premiums in recent years but some notable increases in cost-sharing, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. At a time of heightened public concern about the cost of prescription drugs, the report, Medicare Part D at Ten Years: The…
The Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator, updated with 2021 premium data and to reflect subsidies in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, provides estimates of health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With this calculator, you can enter your income, age, and family size to estimate your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on…
A record 3,834 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the country as alternatives to traditional Medicare for 2022, a new KFF analysis finds. That’s an increase of 8 percent from 2021, and the largest number of plans available in more than a decade. At the same time, the number of Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans that will be offered in 2022 is decreasing by 23 percent to 766 plans, primarily the result…
A new KFF analysis estimates 5.1 million people nationally fall into the Affordable Care Act’s “family glitch” that occurs when a worker receives an offer of affordable employer coverage for themselves but not for their dependents, making them ineligible for financial assistance for marketplace coverage. The so-called glitch occurs because the ACA prohibits people with an offer of affordable employer coverage from purchasing subsidized coverage through the ACA marketplace. Under current rules, the affordability of…
A new KFF interactive provides essential facts and trends about spending on Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers 65 million seniors and people with disabilities, or nearly 1 in 5 Americans. In 2020, Medicare spending accounted for 12 percent of the federal budget and 20 percent of national health care spending. Given its size and importance, the program is often part of discussions about how to better manage total federal government spending, health…
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic charts recent trends in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. Between 1999 and 2015, premiums increased by 203 percent, outpacing both inflation and workers’ earnings. However, growth of premiums for family coverage slowed toward the end of that time period, from an average of 11 percent a year between 1999 and 2005, to 5 percent between 2005 and 2015. In recent years, deductibles rose faster than both premiums and wages, with the…
An updated issue brief estimates the number of enrollees in individual and fully-insured group market plans that have waived cost-sharing – out-of-pocket costs including coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles – for COVID-19 treatment. The analysis also estimates the number of enrollees whose insurer is offering various forms of premium payment relief. The updated analysis finds that, as of November 2020, about half (49%) of fully-insured plan enrollees have coverage that waives cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment through…
This data note estimates how tax credits premiums will change for people at various ages and incomes under the temporary boost in subsidies included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the COVID-19 relief plan signed into law in March 2021.
Medicare provides significant health and financial protections to more than 60 million Americans, but there are gaps in coverage and high cost-sharing requirements that can make health care difficult to afford. This report analyzes several policy options that could help make health care more affordable for people covered by Medicare, especially beneficiaries with relatively low incomes: adding an out-of-pocket limit to traditional Medicare, adding a hard out-of-pocket cap to Part D, expanding financial assistance through…
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