Private Plans In Medicare: A 2007 Update February 28, 2007 Issue Brief This March 2007 issue brief, commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation, examines changes between 2006 and 2007 in the availability of and enrollment in Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans overall and in urban and rural areas. It also focuses on the firms that are offering various types of…
Medicare Payments and Beneficiary Costs for Prescription Drug Coverage February 28, 2007 Issue Brief This March 2007 issue brief, commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides a basic introduction to the reimbursement system for private Medicare drug plans. It explains the system of plan bidding and payment, including the special provisions for low-income enrollees, and considers how aspects of the payment system may affect…
Snapshots: Effect of Tying Eligibility for Health Insurance Subsidies to the Federal Poverty Level February 12, 2007 Issue Brief Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the rapid growth of health insurance premiums and its impact on coverage affordability. Premium growth has far outpaced growth in workers earnings, which means that workers have to spend more of their income each year on health care to maintain current…
Snapshots: Insurance Premium Cost-Sharing and Coverage Take-up January 24, 2007 Issue Brief One of the many reasons an individual may be uninsured is that she or he decides an employer’s offer of health insurance is too expensive. Several studies have noted the likelihood that a worker will decline an employer’s offer of health insurance increases with the amount he or she is…
Retiree Health Benefits Examined: Findings from the Kaiser/Hewitt 2006 Survey on Retiree Health Benefits November 30, 2006 Report This includes the full report on the 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers. The Kaiser/Hewitt study, the fifth joint survey since 2002, analyzes responses from a non-probability sample of 302 businesses with 1,000 or more employees that offer retiree health benefits. These…
Voices of Beneficiaries: Medicare Part D Insights and Observations One Year Later November 30, 2006 Report This report describes the views and experiences of 35 Medicare beneficiaries under the new drug benefit in advance of the 2007 open enrollment period. The report finds that drug plan enrollees generally say that they are satisfied with their drug coverage and have not encountered major difficulties using their plan.…
2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey November 30, 2006 Report The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers assesses their evolving responses to the new Medicare drug benefit in 2006. It also looks at the rising costs and changing benefits of retiree health coverage overall in 2006, as well as the outlook for…
Chartpack: Findings from the Kaiser/Hewitt 2006 Survey on Retiree November 30, 2006 Report Health BenefitsThis document presents key data from the 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Survey on Retiree Health Benefits.Chartpack (.pdf)
Seniors and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit November 30, 2006 Poll Finding The survey, which assessed seniors’ views of and experiences with the Medicare drug benefit, was conducted November 9-19 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. It included a nationally representative sample of 718 seniors, including 275 who reported being enrolled in a Medicare drug plan.…
Chartpack: Seniors and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit November 30, 2006 Poll Finding These charts highlight data from a poll on Seniors and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, conducted jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health between November 9 and 19, 2006. It included a nationally representative sample of 718 seniors, including 275 who reported being enrolled…