Medicare

New & Noteworthy

Health Provisions in the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Law

On July 4, President Trump signed the budget reconciliation bill, previously known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” into law. This summary provides background, description, budgetary impact and related information on the health care provisions of the law in four categories: Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

Medicare Open Enrollment FAQs

This list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Medicare Open Enrollment period covers a range of topics related to enrollment, including Medicare Advantage, Part D, Medigap, and more.

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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  • How Much Is Enough? Out-of-Pocket Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries: A Chartbook

    Report

    This new analysis and chartbook examines out-of-pocket spending among Medicare beneficiaries, including spending on health and long-term care services and insurance premiums, using the most current year of data available from a nationally representative survey of people on Medicare. It explores which types of services account for a relatively large share of out-of-pocket spending, which groups of beneficiaries (including by age, gender, health status, and chronic conditions) are especially hard hit by high out-of-pocket costs, and trends in out-of-pocket spending between 2000 and 2010.

  • What’s Trending in Health Care? Conservative Ideas

    News Release

    What’s Trending in Health Care? Conservative Ideas In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman cuts through the political debate and reviews how some ideas conservatives like are taking hold in the American health system. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • What’s Trending in Health Care? Conservative Ideas

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman cuts through the political debate and reviews how some ideas conservatives like are taking hold in the American health system.

  • The Truth About Those ‘Greedy’ Seniors

    From Drew Altman

    In The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman asks, "what’s your image of America’s seniors?" and provides some facts on the income and assets of Medicare enrollees.

  • Visualizing Income and Assets Among Medicare Beneficiaries: Now and in the Future

    Interactive

    This interactive tool describes the income, savings and home equity of people on Medicare in 2013, and in 2030. It allows users to break out the data by age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status and education level, providing insight into the disparities within and across categories of beneficiaries.

  • How are Seniors Choosing and Changing Health Insurance Plans?

    Report

    This report summarizes first-hand accounts of seniors’ Medicare private plan decision making strategies, based on focus groups conducted in four cities. Seniors found the initial plan selection process overwhelming due to the volume of information they received and their inability to organize it. Few used the government's online comparison tool, and those that did cite several shortcomings. Many relied on advice from sources they trust, including insurance agents, plan representatives, friends, family members, doctor's offices and pharmacists. After they enroll in a plan, many seniors did not revisit their initial decision or review plan options without the strong provocation of a substantial increase in cost, change in coverage, or shift in personal health care needs. Moreover, they feared that a change in plans may disrupt their care, or lead to an unforeseen increase in out-of-pocket costs, and require them to learn new rules and requirements. They are doubtful they would end up in a plan that is appreciatively different or better for them. Overall, seniors preferred to have numerous choices in plans but would like personalized help and advice from experts to ease the process.