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Chartpack: Seniors' Early Experiences With Their New Medicare Drug Plans - June 2006 These charts highlight key data from the June 2006 tracking poll on seniors' early enrollment experiences with the Medicare drug benefit. Chartpack (.pdf)
These toplines include selected findings from the June 2006 Kaiser Health Poll Report Survey, a bimonthly survey designed to provide key tracking information on public opinion about health care topics. Toplines (.pdf)
Kaiser Health Poll Report Survey: Seniors' Early Experiences With Their New Medicare Drug Plans - June 2006 More than eight in 10 seniors who are enrolled in a Medicare drug plan are satisfied with their plan, although almost two in 10 say they encountered a major problem in using it, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking survey of seniors' experiences under the new Medicare drug benefit. The survey of 1,585 seniors, including 623…
Medicare Drug Benefit Enrollment Update This enrollment update breaks down and explains the statistics related to enrollment under the new Medicare drug benefit and the separate low-income subsidy program that provides additional assistance. The enrollment update summarizes the latest enrollment figures released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration and compares them with earlier enrollment projections. Issue Brief (.pdf)
Toward Making Medicare Work for Low-Income Beneficiaries: A Baseline Comparison of the Part D Low-Income Subsidy and Medicare Savings Programs Eligibility and Enrollment Rules This report examines how the low-income provisions of the Medicare drug benefit interact with state-level assistance provided through the Medicare Savings Program. The Medicare drug benefit provides additional help with premiums and cost-sharing requirements for eligible, low-income beneficiaries. The Social Security Administration oversees enrollment in this program. Separately, each state runs…
Premiums and Cost-Sharing Features in Medicare's New Prescription Drug Program, 2006 When Congress created the Medicare drug benefit in 2003, it also sought to generate more private plan options for senior and disabled beneficiaries in Medicare, with increased payments to attract sponsors and to support added benefits attractive to enrollees, especially in rural and other areas that previously had few such plans. The effects of these changes and additional payments are particularly visible this year,…
Observations on the Initial Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program: Perspectives of State Medicaid Directors Through a Focus Group Discussion Medicaid directors express the need to continue to focus on the interaction between Medicaid and the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to address the key system and coordination issues that remain, particularly with the potential disruptions that could occur in January 2007 when new Medicare drug plan contracts and recalculated benchmarks for the low-income…
On January 1, 2006, the six million Americans who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid saw a change in how their prescription drugs are covered. The dual eligible population was transitioned from Medicaid into the Medicare prescription drug benefit. As a group, these beneficiaries are poorer and sicker than those on Medicare. Consequently, they have more extensive health and prescription drug needs than most Medicare beneficiaries.
This report examines the stability of dual eligibility for the seven million Americans who rely on Medicaid to fill the gaps in their Medicare coverage and its implications for Medicare's new prescription drug benefits. The analysis focuses on the duration of dual eligibility, the rates of gain and loss of Medicaid coverage and sources of Medicare supplementation preceding and following periods of Medicaid enrollment. The paper analyzes data from the Medicare Current Beneficiaries Surveys from…
The rising cost of health care is much in the news. Health costs continue to grow faster than national income and, despite research indicating that we the get good value for the increased spending, some policy makers and health analysts question whether governments and private employers can continue to finance the level of care that they do today. This paper illustrates the magnitude of savings that would be needed in order to bring health care…
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