Medicare Spending

2022 National Healthcare Spending Growth Slowed to Pre-COVID Levels

December 15, 2023 - In 2022, national health expenditures hit $4.5 trillion, a 4.1 percent increase, with a couple of key spending areas seeing growth rates return to pre-pandemic levels, CMS announced in a fact sheet. Healthcare spending as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) dropped to 17.3 percent, which is below the average for the three years before the...

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Medicare Hospice Model Improved Quality of Life, Reduced Medicare Spending

by Victoria Bailey

The Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) improved end-of-life care, increased hospice use, and reduced inpatient admissions for Medicare beneficiaries while simultaneously lowering Medicare spending, a...

MedPAC Offers Changes to Medicare Advantage Benefits, Payment Policies

by Victoria Bailey

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) June 2023 report to Congress offered recommendations for addressing disparate Medicare Advantage plan benefits and the future of Medicare...

End of COVID-19 Policies Will Influence National Healthcare Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

CMS’s Office of the Actuary reported that the average annual growth in national healthcare spending between 2022 and 2031 will exceed the average annual growth in gross domestic product...

Rising Enrollment, Higher Costs Spur Medicare Spending Growth

by Victoria Bailey

Rising Medicare enrollment and higher healthcare costs have contributed to significant growth in Medicare spending over the last two decades, according to data from KFF. Medicare provides health...

Medicare Coverage of Weight Loss Drugs May Reduce Access Disparities

by Victoria Bailey

Given the substantial costs, Medicare coverage of weight loss drugs could lead to higher Medicare spending but may help reduce access disparities, according to a KFF policy watch. GLP-1 (glucagon-like...

Medicare, Medicaid Spending Similar Among Dual Eligible Beneficiaries

by Victoria Bailey

Need-based subgroups of dual eligible beneficiaries utilized both Medicare- and Medicaid-funded services, identifying the need for an integration program that includes benefits from both payers, a...

Health Insurance Price Growth Rises to 20%, Outpacing Other Medical Care

by Kelsey Waddill

Health insurance prices rose faster than other medical care categories’ prices but broke from normal patterns by failing to outpace the overall price increases on all goods and services, a brief...

Immigrants’ Premium Contributions Exceed Payer Spending on Care

by Victoria Bailey

Immigrants’ premium contributions in 2017 were $58.3 billion higher than what private insurers and public programs spent on their healthcare, suggesting that immigrants help subsidize the US...

Medicaid Expansion Reduced Medicare Hospitalizations During Dialysis

by Victoria Bailey

Medicaid expansion may help minimize Medicare spending, as it was associated with reduced hospitalizations and hospital days for Medicare beneficiaries with kidney failure who initiated dialysis, a...

Home Health Value Based Purchasing Model Slightly Improved Spending, Care

by Kelsey Waddill

Home health value-based purchasing was associated with lower utilization and spending and slight improvements in quality of care, an analysis published in the JAMA Health Forum found. The researchers...

Increasing Medicare Spending Calls For Short, Long Term Financing Solutions

by Kelsey Waddill

With Medicare spending increasing, finding both short- and long-term solutions for Medicare financing is imperative, an issue brief from Urban Institute found. “With Medicare spending growing...

Alzheimer’s Risk Adjustment Increases Detection, Medicare Spending

by Victoria Bailey

Incorporating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) into risk adjustment for Medicare Advantage and Medicare accountable care organizations...

Large Dialysis Facilities Bumped Prices for Major Medicare Advantage Plans

by Kelsey Waddill

Major Medicare Advantage plans paid a 27 percent higher cost for the median in-network outpatient dialysis treatment between 2016 and 2017, according to an article published in Health Affairs. The...

Seniors Find Medicare Enrollment Confusing, Avoid Changing Plans

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare-eligible individuals continue to find original Medicare enrollment processes confusing and may overestimate their healthcare literacy, a report conducted by Sage Growth Partners...

How Medicare Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Spending Cap May Impact Beneficiaries

by Kelsey Waddill

By implementing a $5,000 spending cap in traditional Medicare, policymakers might be able to halve out-of-pocket healthcare spending for high-spending Medicare beneficiaries, but they risk an increase...

CMS May Use 2022 Savings to Lower 2023 Medicare Part B Premiums

by Kelsey Waddill

CMS is considering using savings from low Medicare spending in Medicare Part B to offset beneficiaries’ 2023 Medicare Part B premiums. The agency released a report examining whether CMS should...

OIG: CMS Should Promote Biosimilars To Reduce Part D Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

Policymakers should consider increasing access to and promoting the use of biosimilars and monitoring trends in biosimilar coverage in order to bring down Medicare Part D spending, the Office of...

ART Impacts Spending, Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with HIV

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare coverage for antiretroviral therapy (ART) did not improve overall spending for Medicare beneficiaries with HIV, but the therapy did appear to positively impact spending outside of HIV...

National Healthcare Spending May Grow 5% in the 2020s

by Kelsey Waddill

CMS has released its projections for national healthcare spending from 2021 to 2030, noting that healthcare as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) will remain comparable to the share in...

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