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…
Pulling it Together: Last Week’s Health Reform “Shocker” June 24, 2009 Perspective Last week we learned that health reform could cost the federal government at least a trillion dollars over ten years, and that it will be really difficult to forge bipartisan agreement on legislation and keep major interest groups on board. This obviously brought more angst to the deliberations, several Republicans…
Pulling it Together: The Sleeper in Health Reform June 16, 2009 Perspective The health reform legislation currently being crafted on Capitol Hill is undeniably complex. To oversimplify slightly it can be boiled down into four parts: coverage (subsidies for private coverage and Medicaid expansions); delivery and payment reforms; insurance market reforms and regulations; and prevention, with each broad category containing a range…
Medicare’s Role for Women June 11, 2009 Fact Sheet Medicare’s Role for Women This fact sheet highlights Medicare’s important role in providing women with health care coverage. It examines the demographic profile of women on Medicare, including their health and income status, the program’s benefits and cost-sharing requirements, and the prevalence of supplemental coverage to fill gaps in Medicare’s…
Medicare Part D 2009 Data Spotlight: Specialty Tiers May 31, 2009 Issue Brief Most Medicare Part D prescription drug plans use tiers with different cost-sharing amounts for generic, preferred, and non-preferred drugs, and also include an additional “specialty” tier for very high cost and unique drugs. This 2009 Part D Data Spotlight examines use of the specialty tier, including the numbers and kinds…
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2009 and Key Changes Since 2006: Summary of Findings May 31, 2009 Issue Brief Since 2006, Medicare beneficiaries have had access to prescription drug coverage offered by private plans, either stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) or Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans (MA-PD plans). Today, more than 26 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare drug plans, including 17.5 million in stand-alone prescription drug plans…
Medicare Part D 2009 Data Spotlight: Ten Most Common Brand-Name Drugs May 31, 2009 Issue Brief This Data Spotlight focuses on Part D plan coverage of the ten brand-name drugs that were most commonly prescribed for Medicare beneficiaries in 2006 and lack generic equivalents in 2009. Findings are based on an analysis of data for the 44 unique, national and near-national stand-alone prescription drug plans. The…
Pulling it Together: About Kaiser Health News May 1, 2009 Perspective There is lots of apocalyptic talk these days about the collapse of the newspaper industry and the challenges facing news organizations. There is even talk of the unimaginable, my hometown paper The Boston Globe shutting down. Surely they know that Red Sox Nation cannot exist without the Globe Sports pages.…
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)
