Medicare

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Decoding Medicare Advantage Coding Intensity

Federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans, and adjustments for health status, have come under increased scrutiny. This brief answers key questions about coding intensity, recent steps taken by CMS, the effects on beneficiaries, and other proposals to improve payment accuracy.

State Profiles for Dual-Eligible Individuals

This data collection draws on Medicare and Medicaid administrative data to present national and state-level information on people who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, referred to as dual-eligible individuals (also known as dually-enrolled beneficiaries).

Data Visualization

The Facts About Medicare Spending

This interactive provides the facts on Medicare spending. Medicare, which serves 67 million people and accounts for 12 percent of the federal budget and 21 percent of national health spending, is often the focus of discussions about health expenditures, health care affordability and the sustainability of federal health programs. Explore data on enrollment growth, Medicare spending trends overall and per person, growth in Medicare spending relative to private insurance, spending on benefits and Medicare Advantage, Part A trust fund solvency challenges, and growth in out-of-pocket spending by beneficiaries.

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  • Do We Know If Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans Are Special?

    Report

    This report describes the history of special needs plans, how they fit into the larger Medicare Advantage marketplace, and what information could help assess whether these plans are performing differently from other Medicare Advantage plans. Special needs plans serve individuals such as those who are institutionalized, people covered under both Medicare and Medicaid, or those with chronic or disabling conditions. Enrollment in these plans doubled in the past year, and President Bush recently signed the…

  • How Much ‘Skin In The Game’ Do Medicare Beneficiaries Have? The Increasing Financial Burden of Health Care Spending, 1997-2003

    Issue Brief

    This study evaluated the changes in Medicare beneficiaries' health care spending between 1997 and 2003, and found beneficiaries spent a growing share of their income on health care. The results showed that median out-of-pocket health spending increased from 11.9% of income in 1997 to 15.5% in 2003, and about four in 10 beneficiaries spent at least one-fifth of their income on health care in 2003. Researchers using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey found…

  • e-Health and the Elderly: How Seniors Use the Internet for Health

    Poll Finding

    A national Kaiser Family Foundation survey of older Americans found that as the Internet becomes an increasingly important resource for informing decisions about health and health care options, less than a third (31%) of seniors (age 65 and older) have ever gone online, but that more than two-thirds (70%) of the next generation of seniors (50-64 year-olds) have done so. The differences among seniors and 50-64 year-olds are striking and indicate that online resources for…

  • Kaiser Health Poll Report Survey – Selected Findings on Seniors’ Views of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

    Poll Finding

    Kaiser Health Poll Report Survey – Selected Findings on Seniors' Views of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit This February 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that 45% of seniors say they have enrolled or plan to enroll in a drug plan, 29% say they do not intend to enroll in a drug plan and another 23% say they are uncertain. The majority of those who do not plan to enroll say they have another…

  • Dual Eligibles: Medicaid’s Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries

    Fact Sheet

    This updated fact sheet describes the nearly 8.9 million "dual eligibles," the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, why this population needs Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and what the new health reform law may mean for them. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Issue Briefs Describe Changes in Private Plan Market and Effects on Medicare Beneficiaries

    Issue Brief

    These two issue briefs describe the different types of private plan options available to people on Medicare, identify key characteristics of the organizations offering the new Medicare drug benefit, and analyze how companies are positioning themselves to attract Medicare enrollees. The Growth of Private Plans in Medicare, 2006 The Landscape of Private Firms Offering Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage in 2006

  • Private Fee-For-Service Plans In Medicare: Rapid Growth and Future Implications

    Event

    Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Patricia Neuman, Ph.D., testified May 2007 before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health on the rapid growth of private fee-for-service plans in the Medicare program and its implications for seniors and people with disabilities. Dr. Neuman is director of the Foundation's Medicare Policy Project. Testimony (.pdf)

  • Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the key findings from the November Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted November 5 through November 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (802) and cell phone (401, including 112 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin…

  • Pulling it Together: Seniors and Health Reform

    Perspective

    It is widely believed that seniors are antsy about the new health reform law. And there is heightened interest in how seniors feel about the law in the political world because they are more likely to vote in midterm elections.  About 48% of the electorate said they voted in the 2006 midterms while about 63% of seniors said the same.  Our June and July tracking polls shed light on seniors’ views on health reform and…

  • Transitions 2006

    Video

    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.