State Medicaid Agencies Prepare for Health Care Reform While Continuing to Face Challenges from the Recession August 1, 2010 Issue Brief This report, based on discussions with leading state Medicaid directors in May 2010, examines how Medicaid agencies are preparing for a lead role in implementing health reform while continuing to deal with the impact of the recession. The report augments the most recent annual Medicaid budget survey report, released in…
Medicaid and Its Role in State/Federal Budgets & Health Reform April 17, 2013 Fact Sheet This chartpack from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured addresses five key questions about the Medicaid program. They include: What is Medicaid and what does it do? What does Medicaid cost and why? What is Medicaid’s role in state budgets? What is Medicaid’s role in the federal budget?…
Snapshots: Comparison of Expenditures in Nongroup and Employer-Sponsored Insurance: 2004-2007 March 3, 2010 Issue Brief Data from the insurance industry and reviews of premiums offered through on-line sellers show that premiums for nongroup health insurance are lower than premiums reported on national surveys for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI). This paper uses pooled data from the 2004 through 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to compare the…
The Future of Medicare Advantage: Are We on the Right Path? June 10, 2013 Event This June 10 briefing looked at Medicare Advantage and changes affecting it, including revised calculations of payments from CMS, and the Affordable Care Act’s reduced payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Speakers discussed how Medicare Advantage plans are expected to respond to payment changes; if quality bonus payments created significant changes in patient care or plan choices; and what implications could these decisions have on beneficiaries with regard to premiums, benefits and more.
Implications Of A Federal Block Grant Program For Medicaid April 1, 2011 Issue Brief This issue brief examines the broad implications of converting Medicaid to block grant financing, one of several ideas that have been put forth to help reduce the federal deficit. The paper, which does not analyze any specific proposal, notes that switching to block grant financing would fundamentally alter the Medicaid…
Pulling It Together: Are We Headed for a Government Takeover of Health Care? July 29, 2011 Perspective Remember the “government takeover of the health care system” argument that critics of the health reform law have used? Well, last week the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published the latest projections of health spending in the journal Health Affairs. Attention focused mainly…
California's "Bridge to Reform" Medicaid Demonstration Waiver October 1, 2011 Fact Sheet This issue brief provides an overview of California’s “Bridge to Reform” Medicaid Demonstration Waiver, which was approved in 2010 and will make up to roughly $8 billion in federal Medicaid matching funds available to California over a five-year period to expand coverage to low-income uninsured adults and preserve and improve…
Medicaid Financing: An Overview of the Federal Medicaid Matching Rate (FMAP) September 30, 2012 Issue Brief Since its enactment in 1965, the Medicaid program has used the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to determine the federal government’s share of the cost of covered services in state Medicaid programs. On average, the federal share has been 57 percent. Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes…
How Does the Benefit Value of Medicare Compare to the Benefit Value of Typical Large Employer Plans?: A 2012 Update April 4, 2012 Issue Brief This study compares the value of Medicare’s fee-for-service benefits last year with the value of benefits in two large employer health plans — a large health plan serving federal employees and a typical large employer Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan. For individuals ages 65 and older, the study finds that…