Posted on May 6, 2010 09:48
Categories: Medicare | Special Populations | Legislative and Regulatory Issues
Topics: Health Care Reform | Medicare | Seniors | Spending
On April 26, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released an updated primer on Medicare. The primer outlines the characteristics and components of Medicare, the financing of Medicare, and the projected impact of the national health care reform law on the program.
From the Primer:
The health care reform law enacted in March 2010 (P.L. 111-148)1 expands prescription drug and prevention benefits covered under Medicare and introduces new programs designed to improve the quality and delivery of care to people covered by Medicare. In addition, the law reduces the growth in Medicare payments to health care providers and Medicare Advantage plans, and includes other provisions designed to slow the growth in Medicare spending and strengthen the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, including the creation of a new Independent Payment Advisory Board.
Comprising an estimated 12 percent of the federal budget and more than one-fifth of total national health expenditures in 2010, Medicare is often a significant part of discussions about how to moderate the growth of both federal spending and health care spending in the U.S.2 With the dual challenges of providing increasingly expensive medical care to an aging population and keeping the program financially secure for the future, discussions about Medicare are likely to remain prominent on the nation’s agenda in the years ahead.
Full Primer: Kaiser Family Foundation Releases Medicare Primer (PDF | 1.33 MB)
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Medicare, a primer.
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