Medicare

New & Noteworthy

What to Know About Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Federal Efforts at Regulation

The top three pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) manage 79% of prescription drug claims on behalf of 270 million people. We look at the role PBMs play in influencing drug costs and access to medicines, as well as efforts to regulate them.

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.

Related: FAQs on Medicare Financing and Trust Fund Solvency

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331 - 340 of 1,586 Results

  • Marketing Medicare – How Health Insurers and Brokers Use TV Ads to Attract Enrollees

    Event Date:
    Event

    KFF held a web event on September 20, 2023 to discuss Medicare marketing practices in advance of the open enrollment period, which begins Oct. 15. As part of the event, KFF released a new analysis of television ads that aired during last year’s open enrollment season and share insights from focus groups with enrollees about their perceptions of the marketing efforts.

  • KFF Research Shows that Medicare Open Enrollment TV Ads Are Dominated by Medicare Advantage Plans Featuring Celebrities, Active and Fit Seniors, and Promises of Savings and Extra Benefits Without Fundamental Plan Information

    News Release

    The annual blitz of ads for Medicare Advantage plans has become a rite of fall, as health insurers, brokers and other third parties seek to court enrollees for these private plans, which are offered to the 65 million people with Medicare during the program’s open enrollment season.

  • How Health Insurers and Brokers Are Marketing Medicare

    Report

    To capture the state of television marketing activities and consider the implications for people with Medicare, KFF analyzed ad data compiled by the Wesleyan Media Project, that were obtained from Vivvix (formerly Kantar) CMAG, a data analytics and consulting firm, and were coded by the Wesleyan Media Project in collaboration with KFF. The data set included all English-language TV ads that aired across national and local markets on broadcast television or national cable, from October 1st, 2022, through December 7th, 2022, the period that includes the Medicare open enrollment period for coverage in 2023.

  • What Do People with Medicare Think About the Role of Marketing, Shopping for Medicare Options, and Their Coverage?

    Report

    To capture Medicare beneficiaries’ views and experiences in choosing between traditional Medicare and private plans, and among private plans, and the factors that influence these decisions, KFF worked with PerryUndem to conduct focus groups with Medicare beneficiaries in the Fall of 2022, during the annual Medicare open enrollment period. This report summarizes first-hand accounts of participants’ reactions open enrollment advertising and factors that influence their decision-making around Medicare plan choice.

  • Probing the Legal Arguments in the Drug Industry’s Challenges to Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

    Event Date:
    Event

    With the Biden administration’s announcement of the first 10 drugs to be negotiated for Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an array of legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry is potentially the biggest obstacle to implementation. On Tuesday, September 12, two legal experts and a health policy expert joined Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, for a 45-minute discussion about the legal issues underpinning these lawsuits and how they intersect with the policy goals of the legislation.

  • Medicare Advantage Enrollment, Plan Availability and Premiums in Rural Areas

    Issue Brief

    Medicare Advantage enrollment is lower, but has grown more rapidly in recent years in rural areas than in metropolitan areas. In 2023, nearly 40% of eligible Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas are in Medicare Advantage. Rural Medicare beneficiaries can choose from 27 Medicare Advantage plans on average and most are enrolled in a plan that charges no additional premium.

  • The 4 Arguments You Will Hear Against Drug Price Negotiation

    Perspective

    As the Biden administration begins the process of negotiation drug prices for Medicare as authorized in the Inflation Reduction Act, KFF's Larry Levitt probes some of the arguments against it and the policy and political implications of the debate in this New York Times op-ed column.

  • New Weight Loss Drugs Raise Issues of Coverage, Cost, Access and Equity

    Event Date:
    Event

    New weight loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide), could be transformative for people who struggle with obesity and obesity-related medical conditions, but there are major questions to consider related to insurance coverage, the cost of the drugs, and who has access. On August 4, three experts joined Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, for a 45-minute “Health Wonk Shop” discussion about the questions surrounding what a new generation of weight loss drugs means for patients and payers.