The Trump Administration’s proposed rule that would effectively ban drug rebates in Medicare and Medicaid would raise — not reduce — spending on prescription drugs, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says in a new estimate. Drug...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Medicare in the 2020 Trump Budget
March 18, 2019
President Trump’s 2020 budget proposes nearly $600 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over ten years (see table). Most of the proposals...
Policymakers Shouldn’t Repeal or Further Delay “Cadillac Tax”
March 12, 2019
Congress is facing renewed calls to repeal or further delay the “Cadillac tax” — the excise tax on high-cost health plans. That would be unwise for two reasons: it would lose needed revenue and would set back efforts to slow the growth of health care costs.
The Affordable...
More Evidence of Post-ACA Slowdown in Health Care Spending
March 7, 2019
New projections from the Medicare actuaries provide fresh evidence that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped slow spending growth throughout the nation’s health care sector.
Under the actuaries’ updated projections of...
District Court Decision Striking Down ACA Would Undermine Medicare
December 18, 2018
December 19, 2018: We have corrected the list of preventive services for which the ACA eliminated cost-sharing.
If allowed to stand, a U.S. District Court judge’s decision striking down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would significantly affect Medicare. To be sure, since the legal reasoning behind the decision is...
House Shouldn’t Delay or Repeal Health-Related Taxes
December 12, 2018
The House may vote on a year-end tax bill that, among other provisions, would delay or repeal four health-related taxes: the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices, the fee on health insurance providers (the “health insurance tax”), the excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans (...
Medicare Advantage Upcoding, Overpayments Require Attention
October 30, 2018
Private Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers have long received overpayments from Medicare due to their “upcoding,” which makes MA enrollees appear less healthy than they are — and a recent court decision could worsen the problem. As policymakers look to strengthen Medicare, eliminating upcoding should be high on their...
Expanding Medicare Eligibility Entails Many Design Issues
October 4, 2018
Proposals to expand Medicare have moved to the forefront of debate, with several expansion plans advanced in policy journals or introduced in Congress. Although they vary in scope, all raise numerous technical and program design issues. In a new issue brief for the National Academy of...
Fixing Medicare Benefit Cliff Shouldn’t Give Cover for Drug Company Giveaway
September 24, 2018
Beneficiaries in Medicare’s prescription drug program (Medicare Part D) with high drug spending will have to pay much more out of pocket starting in 2020 under a scheduled sharp increase in the spending threshold at which catastrophic coverage kicks in. Policymakers may soon eliminate that looming benefit “cliff.” But they shouldn’t also reduce the discount that drug companies must pay when...
House Shouldn’t Repeal or Further Delay “Cadillac Tax”
July 11, 2018
The House Ways and Means Committee will mark up a bill today to delay the excise tax on high-cost health plans (the so-called “Cadillac tax”) by another year, to 2023. That would be unwise for two reasons: it would lose needed revenue, and it would set back efforts to slow the growth of health care costs.
The...
