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This slideshow explains key elements of the Medicare program, which now provides health coverage to 55 million people — including 46 million people age 65 and older and another 9 million younger adults with permanent disabilities.
This issue brief details the various eligibility pathways by which individuals with disabilities and the elderly can qualify for Medicaid coverage. The program, which serves as a safety net for many of the nation’s poorest and sickest individuals, provides health coverage to nearly 60 million Americans, including 8.5 million with disabilities and 8.
In context of the rapidly growing number of older adults in the U.S. and increasing challenges that this population faces, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a large scale, nationally representative telephone survey to better understand people’s expectations about later life and efforts they’ve taken to plan for if they become seriously ill. To learn more about the experiences of those with serious illness specifically, this survey also included interviews with adults who are either personally age 65 or older living with a serious illness, or have an older family member who is or was before they recently died.
In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman dives into this week’s release of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report to discuss the good news that may have been missed. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
In a new analysis of survey data from state Medicaid home care programs, KFF found that in most years since 2016, there have been nearly 700,000 people on waiting or interest lists for expanded home and community-based services (HCBS), with a total of 692,000 across 38 states in 2023 and waiting lists averaging three years.
In January 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule that created new requirements for Medicaid home- and community-based services (HCBS) programs. This issue brief describes the settings rule, implementation of the rule across states and HCBS waivers, and what to watch as implementation continues.
Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage is available for people with Medicare who enroll in private plans, either a stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) for people in traditional Medicare, or a Medicare Advantage plan that covers all Medicare benefits, including prescription drugs (MA-PD). This issue brief provides an overview of Part D plan availability and premiums in 2024 and key trends over time.
For 2024, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 43 Medicare Advantage plans and can choose from plans offered by 8 firms. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 66 percent will charge no premium in addition to the monthly Medicare Part B premium. As in previous years, the vast majority of Medicare Advantage plans will offer supplemental benefits, including fitness, dental, vision, and hearing benefits.
Three key private health insurance markets -- Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market -- appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or fully-insured market. The future of these markets has become a focus for policymakers amid the debate over Medicare for All.
A new KFF analysis finds that the list prices for most of the top Medicare Part D drugs by total spending increased as much as nine times the rate of inflation (1.7%) between 2016 and 2017, suggesting recent Congressional proposals targeting such increases could generate savings for Medicare and Part D enrollees.
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