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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)
This paper, by Joy Pritts of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, looks at issues related to drug plan marketing activities and privacy under the MMA. Issue Brief (.pdf)
This chartpack contains key data from the Kaiser/Commonwealth/Tufts-New England Medical Center 2006 National Survey of Seniors and Prescription Drugs. Findings of the survey were published in a Health Affairs Web Exclusive on Aug. 21, 2007. Chartpack (.pdf)
This updated chartpack presents sources of supplemental and prescription drug coverage among Medicare beneficiaries in 2007, the most recent year for which national data are available. The chartpack looks at variations in supplemental and prescription drug coverage by income, race/ethnicity, age, urban/rural location, and health status. It also examines characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries with low incomes who are not enrolled in a Part D plan or receiving Part D low-income subsidies. Prepared by Kaiser Family…
The Kaiser Family Foundation maintains a number of primers providing overviews of key health care programs and issues. Written by Foundation staff, each primer provides key data and information that helps illustrate the topic and its relevance for the nation's health care system. Medicaid: A Primer Medicare: A Primer The Uninsured: A Primer Health Care Costs: A Primer How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer Mental Health Financing in the United States: A Primer The…
describes key characteristics of the organizations that offer the new Medicare drug benefit and analyzes how companies are positioning themselves to attract Medicare enrollees. • Seven of the 10 organizations that sponsor stand-alone prescription drug plans nationwide are based in commercial insurance firms with substantial Medicare Advantage experience, and three of the 10 firms are in the pharmacy benefit management and service sector. • Nine of the 10 organizations that sponsor stand-alone prescription drug plans…
This brief highlights trends in the Medicare Advantage marketplace, including the choices available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2012, premium levels and other plan characteristics. The brief was authored by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Data Spotlight (.pdf)
This Kaiser Family Foundation report analyzes the content and frequency of television, print and radio advertisement for private Medicare plans that ran nationally or in one of three local media markets (Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Greensboro, N.C.) during the marketing and enrollment period for 2008 plan offerings. All ads were identified by VMS, a media monitoring service. The study finds that insurers last year placed three times more advertisements to promote Medicare Advantage…
This report looks at the star ratings that have been used for many years to help consumers compare plans, and examines how Medicare Advantage quality scores will interact with plan payments, beginning in 2012. To encourage Medicare Advantage plans to provide quality care, the 2010 health reform law authorized Medicare to pay plans bonuses beginning in 2012 if they receive four or five stars on the program’s five-star quality rating system, or are unrated. Building…
This issue brief examines the recent boom in Medicare Advantage enrollment attributable to employers contracting with Private Fee-for-Service (PFFS) plans to cover their Medicare-eligible retirees. Between 2006 and 2008, the number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage group plans nearly doubled from 900,000 to nearly 1.7 million as of June 2008; most of this growth is attributable to contracts between employers and PFFS plans. The issue brief, prepared for the Foundation by Avalere Health,…
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