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Addressing the cost of insulin continues to be at the forefront of policy discussions around prescription drugs. This analysis describes out-of-pocket spending on insulin products by Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Part D drug plans, along with state-level use and spending data.
National Survey on Consumers' Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information This survey assesses Americans' perceptions about the quality of health care, their awareness and reported usage of information in making their health care choices, and their experiences with their health care providers five years after the Institute of Medicine's landmark report on medical errors. The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard School of Public Health collaborated on…
The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued this collection of analyses related to the Medicare Part D stand-alone drug plan options available to seniors in 2012. These spotlights focuses on key aspects of the drug plan choices available and relevant trends since the Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006. They were prepared by a team of researchers at Georgetown University, NORC at the University of Chicago and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Analysis Of Medicare Prescription…
Issues Surrounding the “Clawback” or State Contributions Towards Medicare Drug Coverage: A Conference Call Discussion As part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 signed into law last year, Congress included a financing provision that requires a monthly payment from each state to the Medicare program beginning in January 2006. MMA’s clawback provision will recapture most of the savings that states would realize when Medicare assumes prescription drug costs for…
This brief commissioned by the Foundation considers areas where Medicare faces limited opportunity for market-based competition and price negotiation to drive down drug spending. These areas include drug purchasing for low-income people enrolled in Part D plans who face minimal cost-sharing requirements, and purchasing certain unique drugs, such as biologicals, that have no therapeutic alternatives or competitors. Authored by Richard G. Frank of Harvard University, the brief discusses policy options that could lower Medicare spending…
This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines the benefit design of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) in 2008, focusing on national plans. It shows that in 2008, as in previous years, only about 10 percent of national prescription drug plans offered the defined standard benefit. The spotlight also looks at cost sharing structures, the use of flat dollar copayments, the upward trend in cost sharing for non-preferred drugs, and recent changes in cost…
This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. The analysis is based on a model developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The model generally conforms to the Congressional Budget Office’s assumptions and projections about Medicare drug benefit spending and participation rates for the new benefit and for the low-income subsidy. The report was released at a briefing in…
This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines the coverage gap, or "doughnut hole," in Medicare drug plans available in 2009. While in the gap in coverage, Part D enrollees (other than those receiving low-income subsidies) are required to pay 100 percent of total drug costs until they reach the catastrophic coverage level. In 2009, nearly all Part D plans have a coverage gap, though one in four plans offer limited coverage in the gap --…
This report explores how four state Medicaid programs — Washington, Wyoming, Minnesota, and North Carolina — differ in their use of Oregon’s Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) to manage their prescription drug benefit. Report (.pdf)
The House and Senate versions of a Medicare prescription drug bill treat the drug costs of those dually-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and other low-income Medicare beneficiaries quite differently. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured cosponsored a policy briefing on the key issues in the two bills that would impact low-income beneficiaries and released a brief and background report on the topic. A Prescription Drug Benefit in Medicare: Implications for Medicaid and Low-Income…
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