Publications and Reports
Issue Spotlight: Prescription Drugs
View recent headlines on prescription drugs, new and noteworthy reports, or follow the Medicare prescription drug debate.
President Announces Framework to Modernize and Improve Medicare
This document provides details of President Bush's announcement of reform plans for Medicare. The plans include providing the option of a subsidized prescription drug benefit to all seniors, better coverage for preventive care, and legislation that should strengthen the program's long-term financial security.
White House, March 2003
Kaiser Family Foundation: Medicare Advantage Fact Sheet
This fact sheet, updated in February 2003, provides an overview of the Medicare+Choice program - Part C of Medicare - established under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. It describes state variations in Medicare+Choice enrollment and plan participation, trends in supplemental benefits offered and premiums charged, and recent changes in payments to plans.
Kaiser Family Foundation, February 2003
Kaiser Family Foundation: Prescription Drug Trends Fact Sheet
This two-page fact sheet, last updated in October 2004, provides trend data for prescription drug coverage, expenditures and the key factors that contribute to rising prescription spending: increases in utilization and prices, and changes in drug use from older drugs to newer higher-priced drugs.
Kaiser Family Foundation, October 25, 2004
"What The GAO Says About The Best Model For Medicare Reform"
This paper discusses the merits of a using the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP)as a model for Medicare reform.
Heritage Foundation, Feburary 2003
Kaiser Family Foundation: Dual Eligibles
This fact sheet describes the low-income elderly population that is eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare, why they need Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid,and the current policy challenges related to this population.
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, February 2003
"Improving Access to Drugs for Medicare Beneficiaries"
While the federal government considers various ways to make prescription drugs more affordable for this population, a number of states, including California, have passed laws creating pharmaceutical assistance programs. A RAND team, led by physician Joy Lewis, assessed the effectiveness of the California law, which mandates that pharmacies must reduce the costs of prescription medications to elderly Medicare beneficiaries.
RAND, December 2002
"Modernizing Medicare Cost-Sharing: Policy Options and Impacts on Beneficiary and Program Expenditures"
In the this report a range of modest policy options that would enable Medicare to reduce financial burdens on the sickest beneficiaries while offering a sounder insurance package are proposed.
Commonwealth Fund, November 2002
"Average Out-of-Pocket Health Care Costs for Medicare+Choice Enrollees Increase Substantially in 2002"
This issue brief updates to 2002 an earlier Commonwealth Fund
report, "Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenses for Medicare HMO Beneficiaries:
Estimates by Health Status, 1999–2001."
Commonwealth Fund, November 2002
Kaiser Health Poll Report: The Public on Prescription Drugs for Seniors
This Health Poll Report is on the trends in public knowledge and attention to news about seniors and prescription drugs, as well as public opinion about who should be covered by a Medicare prescription drug benefit and what constitutes a good plan.
Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2002
"Prescription Drug Costs and the Role of Generic Drugs: Public Opinion Among Americans Aged 45 and Over"
This nationally representative telephone survey of 1,046 Americans age 45 and over explores public opinion surrounding this legislation, prescription drug prices, and the continuing importance of a Medicare drug benefit bill.
AARP, October 2002
"Issues in Designing a Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare"
This Congressional Budget Office study discusses CBO's approach to estimating the costs of various designs for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. The study describes the broad choices available to policymakers, some problems raised by particular design choices, and the implications of those choices for the cost of four specific proposals, which together cover a wide spectrum of approaches for delivering a Medicare drug benefit. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this study makes no recommendations.
Congressional Budget Office, October 2002
"Stretching Federal Dollars: Policy Trade-Offs in Designing a Medicare Drug Benefit with Limited Resources"
This paper discusses the future of a Medicare prescription drug benefit.
The Urban Institute, August 2002
"Prescription Drug Coverage And Seniors: How Well Are States Closing The Gap?"
Health Affairs, July 31, 2002
"Going Without Health Insurance: Nearly One in Three Non-Elderly Americans"
This report estimates that approximately 75 million Americans under
65 years of age were uninsured sometime in 2001 and 2002. The report further estimates that almost twothirds
(65%) were uninsured for at least six months, and nearly one-quarter (24%) were uninsured
throughout the two-year period.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, March 2003
"Across the States 2002: Profiles of Long-Term Care"
Published biennially since 1992 by AARP's Public Policy Institute, Across the States presents a snapshot of the long-term care landscape in each state and the District of Columbia. The series was developed to help inform policy discussions among public and private sector leaders in long-term care throughout the United States.
AARP, December 2002
"Long-Term Care: Elderly Individuals Could Find Significant Variation in the Availability of Medicaid Home and Community Services "
Testimony from Kathryn G. Allen (Director, Health Care—Medicaid
and Private Health Insurance Issues) before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
GAO, September 26, 2002
"Long-Term Care: Aging Baby Boom Generation Will Increase Demand and Burden on Federal and State Budgets"
Testimony from David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
GAO, March 21, 2002
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