Medicare Rights Advocacy New toolkit provides information on Medicare integrated coverage options for dually eligible individuals Medicare Rights and the National Council on Aging have a new toolkit related to integrated care options for people with Medicare and Medicaid. It reviews the federal landscape of plan options, including Dual-eligible Special Needs Plans […]
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report that demonstrated the devastating impact of COVID-19 on people with Medicare who reside in nursing homes. While it was clear from early in the public health emergency that older adults and people with […]
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that of the $560 billion that Medicare and people with Medicare spent on prescription drugs from 2016-2018, more than half was spent on drugs that were advertised. The report also looked at what types of medications were advertised most often and found that two-thirds […]
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court once again upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the law of the land, determining that the plaintiffs in California v. Texas lacked standing to sue. Lack of standing means that the plaintiffs could not show that they were harmed by the law they were […]
An updated report from the AARP Public Policy Institute shows the growth in retail prices for many brand name prescription drugs continues to significantly outpace general inflation, contributing to problems with prescription drug affordability for people with Medicare. From 2019 to 2020, retail prices for 260 brand name drugs widely […]
Based on data from a new issue brief by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the Biden administration announced a record 31 million Americans now have health care coverage because of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ASPE […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took additional steps this week to make COVID-19 vaccines available to Medicare beneficiaries who have difficulty leaving their homes or are otherwise hard-to-reach. Under the new policy, Medicare will pay an additional $35 per dose for in-home vaccine administration, increasing the total […]
Last week, President Biden submitted his first budget request to Congress. The White House plan includes legislative proposals and detailed funding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22), which begins on October 1. Though not binding on Congress, the president’s annual budget request is an important policy document that outlines the administration’s […]
The Commonwealth Fund recently released a new report suggesting four key questions for policymakers to consider as they evaluate the future of more than 200 temporary policy and regulatory changes that have been made to the Medicare program as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report, which […]
The Medicare Rights Center’s free and independent online reference tool, Medicare Interactive (MI), medicareinteractive.org, is a hub for Medicare help. MI provides hundreds of answers to Medicare questions in easy-to-understand language, vetted by staff attorneys. The site receives over three million visits annually from people looking for assistance with Medicare […]
