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Kaiser Family Foundation Reports on Medicare-Medicaid Enrollment and Spending
This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a brief examining national and state-level data on enrollment and spending for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, sometimes called dually enrolled individuals or duals. KFF used the 2019 and 2020 Medicare Beneficiary Summary Files and the 2019 Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System to identify trends […]
Government Watchdog Shows Limited Data on Medicare Advantage Supplemental Benefits
This week, the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO), a watchdog agency that works for Congress, released a report on Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefits. The report found that most MA plans offer some supplemental benefits but that there are limited data on to what extent plan enrollees have been able to use new types of benefits […]
Record Numbers Sign Up for Marketplace Coverage
On January 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that a record 16.3 million people had enrolled in coverage through Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace Coverage, including 3.6 million new enrollees. This is a record number—a 13% increase over last year—despite not yet including final numbers from states, some of which keep […]
Commonwealth Fund Report Highlights Racial Disparity in Home Health Care
Last week, the Commonwealth Fund reported on a new survey that found that Medicare beneficiaries of color used more home health services than white beneficiaries overall and were more likely to rely on unpaid informal caregivers for those services. Many older adults and people with disabilities require home health care services, including people who have […]
What Role Does Marketing Play in Medicare Decision-Making?
The Commonwealth Fund recently released an explainer delving into the role Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D marketing has on people with Medicare. This explainer comes as MA marketing has attracted more scrutiny because of complaints about misleading practices and as federal agencies have begun looking more closely at how MA products are sold. Marketing […]
Studies Show That Medicaid Expansion Helps Hospitals and Providers
This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a new issue brief about the effects of Medicaid expansion on hospitals and other providers. KFF found that recent studies agree with previous data and generally show positive effects in reducing uncompensated care and uninsured status, as well as increasing revenues for providers. To reduce the number […]
Year-End Funding Package Includes Medicare and Medicaid Policies
In late December, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill (P.L. 117-328) that funds the federal government through the current fiscal year (September 30, 2023) and makes several important changes to Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare Medicare Telehealth PHE Waiver Extension—The bill extends most of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) Medicare telehealth flexibilities through 2024 and […]
The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program Is Underway
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a timeline for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. This program implements Medicare’s new authority to directly negotiate prescription drug prices. Through the program, Medicare will have the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices with the goal of lowering the […]
Medicare Rights NY: Issue 29
Medicare Savings Program Expansion in New York This year, more older adults and people with disabilities in New York will be eligible for Medicare financial assistance through the newly expanded Medicare Savings Program (MSP). The monthly MSP income limits have increased to an estimated $2,107 for individuals and $2,839 for couples, based on the 2022 federal […]
