Medicare Fraud Prevention Week focuses on the actions everyone can take to prevent Medicare fraud, errors, and abuse. June 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program. To commemorate this event, the SMP is creating a national week focused on Medicare fraud prevention. Medicare loses an […]
This is part 1 of the helpline trends report series. Read part 2, part 3, and part 4. This week, the Medicare Rights Center released our annual helpline trends report, Medicare Trends and Recommendations: An Analysis of 2020-2021 Call Data from the Medicare Rights Center’s National Helpline. Drawn from our direct […]
Last week, Medicare Rights joined hundreds of national, state, and local organizations in a letter urging the U.S. Senate to include robust investments in Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) in the next legislative package. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would invest $150 billion […]
The Medicare Rights Center launched a Spanish version of its Medicare Interactive (MI) website this past winter. Medicare Interactive is a free and independent online reference tool that includes an array of educational resources designed to help people with Medicare, their families and caregivers, and the professionals who serve them […]
A new RAND study found that in 2020, employers and private health insurance plans paid hospitals 224% more than Medicare for inpatient and outpatient services, with wide variation in prices among states. According to the report, hospital services accounted for 37% of total health spending for the privately insured in […]
A new issue brief from the Integrated Care Resource Center (ICRC) examines strategies to reduce churn, the unnecessary loss of Medicaid coverage, for the 12 million people who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Churn causes significant health and financial burdens for beneficiaries, providers, insurance plans, and states. Despite […]
During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created several exceptions to how Medicaid, Marketplace plan subsidies, and Medicare Savings Programs handled annual recertifications confirming people’s continued eligibility for those programs. While these changes have been important to protecting continuity of care and […]
Medicare Rights recently joined over 70 organizations to launch the campaign “Push For Lower Rx Prices.” The groups are calling on the Senate to advance a reconciliation package by Memorial Day that includes the drug pricing provisions in the House-passed bill. Medicare Rights has long supported reforms to lower drug […]
Medicare drug prices keep rising faster than inflation, and 8 in 10 adults say the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable. A recent Health Affairs article examines how and why Medicare Part D net prices are “significantly higher and growing much more rapidly than those paid by other payers, such […]
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) developed a useful interactive display that shows the current state of Medicare spending nationally and trends for the future. This tool provides valuable data and insights into where money is being spent and what the future might hold for the program. One major takeaway from […]
