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  • Primers on Key Health Care Topics and Programs

    Issue Brief

    The Kaiser Family Foundation maintains a number of primers providing overviews of key health care programs and issues. Written by Foundation staff, each primer provides key data and information that helps illustrate the topic and its relevance for the nation's health care system. Medicaid: A Primer Medicare: A Primer The Uninsured: A Primer Health Care Costs: A Primer How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer Mental Health Financing in the United States: A Primer The…

  • Reaching for the Stars: Quality Ratings of Medicare Advantage Plans, 2011

    Issue Brief

    New: Medicare Advantage Plan Star Ratings and Bonus Payments in 2012 In 2012, Medicare Advantage plans will be awarded additional payments based on their quality ratings as a result of the 2010 health reform law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a demonstration that would modify the quality-based payments for plans, providing additional payments for 2012 to 2014. This policy brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the quality ratings of private…

  • Medicare Part D 2011 Data Spotlight: The Coverage Gap

    Report

    This data spotlight examines the availability of gap coverage in the private Medicare Part D drug plans offered to beneficiaries in 2011, the first year of the phase-out of the gap, as required under the 2010 health reform law. The changes for 2011 include a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs purchased during the gap in coverage, reducing an enrollee’s potential out-of-pocket costs in the gap from about $3,600 to $1,800. The analysis was conducted…

  • Pharmaceutical Policy and Pricing: Are Other Countries Getting Greater Value?

    Event Date:
    Event

    Spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. rose at a faster clip in 2009 than spending for hospital and physician care, a trend that is expected to continue through 2020. The desire to get a handle on drug spending is a focus not only in the U.S. but in other countries as well. What are some strategies used in our country and in the UK, Germany and France to control pharmaceutical spending? How well are…

  • Medicare Part D Spending Trends: Understanding Key Drivers and the Role of Competition

    Issue Brief

    This brief commissioned by the Foundation examines factors that contributed to Medicare's lower-than-expected spending on prescription drugs under the Medicare Part D drug benefit that started in 2006. Since its launch, Medicare has spent about 30 percent less on Part D benefits than the Congressional Budget Office originally projected. Some cite the program's design, with private plans competing for enrollment, as the driving factor in lower spending; others point to factors in the overall market…

  • The Part D Experience: What are the Lessons for Broader Medicare Reform?

    Event Date:
    Event

    Launched in 2006, Medicare added a prescription drug benefit that relies entirely on private plans, while, for other benefits, beneficiaries have a choice between private health plans and traditional fee-for-service Medicare. As policymakers consider changes to Medicare that would give an even greater role to private health plans in caring for Medicare’s nearly 50 million seniors and people with disabilities, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a policy workshop to examine how the Part D experience…

  • Prescription Drug Coverage for Medicare Beneficiaries: A Side-by-Side Comparison

    Other Post

    This document, prepared by Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., provides a side-by-side comparison of five major federal proposals under consideration to provide outpatient prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries. It includes both a summary and a detailed comparison of the following major proposals: S. 357, The Medicare Preservation and Improvement Act of 2001 (Breaux/Frist I), S. 358, The Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2001 (Breaux-Frist II), H.R. 4680, The Medicare Rx 2000 Act (passed…

  • Medicaid: Purchasing Prescription Drugs

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid: Purchasing Prescription Drugs A policy brief explaining how Medicaid purchases outpatient drugs and outlining the policy tools available to states to limit the rate of growth in spending on prescription drugs. Policy Brief (28 pages)

  • Standard Medicare Drug Benefit, 2006 Chart

    Report

    Standard Medicare Drug Benefit, 2006 Out-of-pocket drug spending for Medicare beneficiaries under the standard Medicare drug benefit described in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Chart (.pdf)