Explaining Health Care Reform: How Might a Reform Plan Be Financed? July 1, 2009 Issue Brief One of the key challenges in enacting a health care reform plan is how to finance it among government, employers, and individuals. Of particular concern to policymakers is what effect a health reform plan would have on government spending and the federal budget. President Obama and Congressional leaders have said…
Medicare Part D Update: Lessons Learned and Unfinished Business July 1, 2009 Report Enacted in 2003, Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit reflected an unprecedented and controversial new approach for Medicare, relying exclusively on private plans to provide health coverage and including an unusual gap in coverage. This analysis by Kaiser researchers examines in detail how the new model has worked since its…
Update on Medicare Spending and Financing and Highlights from the 2009 Medicare Trustees’ Report April 30, 2009 Report Incorporating data from the 2009 Medicare Trustees’ Report, this chartpack examine the fiscal challenges facing the Medicare program as well as the public’s views on confronting them. Chartpack (.pdf)
Trends in Medicaid Physician Fees, 2003-2008 April 1, 2009 Fact Sheet This study, published in a Health Affairs Web exclusive, provides the first national and state-by-state update of Medicaid physician fees since 2003. Medicaid has historically reimbursed physicians under fee-for-service at levels below what Medicare and private health insurers would pay for the same services. The study finds that Medicaid fees…
2009 National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report March 30, 2009 Event The National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report provides the latest data on state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). ADAPs, part of the Ryan White Program, provide HIV medications to low-income people with HIV/AIDS who have limited or no prescription drug coverage. ADAPs operate in all 50 states, the District of…
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA): Medicaid and Health Care Provisions March 4, 2009 Fact Sheet This fact sheet examines the assistance for Medicaid programs and key health provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that President Obama signed into law on February 17, 2009. Subjects covered include the temporary increase in federal matching money for state Medicaid programs, subsidies for COBRA health coverage…
Health Care on a Budget: An Analysis of Spending by Medicare Households February 28, 2009 Report This report examines Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket health care costs, which comprise a significant share of their household expenses.
Pulling it Together from Drew Altman: Multiple Agendas for Controlling Health Care Costs January 26, 2009 Perspective In what would be a domestic policy trifecta, we may be headed for interconnected big debates about economic recovery, entitlement programs and health reform. A core issue in the entitlement and health reform debates is the problem of rising health care costs. President Obama, now apparently fully briefed on the…
National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report, April 2008 March 30, 2008 Event The National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report provides the latest data on state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). ADAPs, part of the Ryan White Program, provide HIV medications to low-income people with HIV/AIDS who have limited or no prescription drug coverage. ADAPs operate in all 50 states, the District of…
Medicare and the President’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Proposal February 1, 2008 Fact Sheet Medicare and the President’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget ProposalThis fact sheet summarizes key Medicare-related provisions in the Bush Administration’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, as well as additional legislation that responds to the Medicare Trustees’ “Medicare Funding Warning.” Fact Sheet (.pdf)