This analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker illustrates the potential for employer savings if the age of Medicare eligibility were lowered to 60, as proposed by President Biden during the 2020 campaign.
Category: health costs
April 29 Web Briefing: How Large Employers View Rising Health Care Costs and the Role of Government
The COVID-19 pandemic and recent elections are changing the national conversation around expanding health care coverage and reining in rising health care costs. President Biden campaigned on a platform of expanding access to public health coverage in w…
Analysis Finds That a Relatively Small Number of Drugs Account for the Majority of Medicare Prescription Drug Spending
A new KFF analysis finds that a relatively small share of drugs, mainly those without generic or biosimilar competitors, accounted for a disproportionate share of prescription drug spending in Medicare in 2019. This finding suggests that recent proposa…
Relatively Few Drugs Account for a Large Share of Medicare Prescription Drug Spending
As policymakers focus attention on proposals to lower prescription drug costs by allowing price negotiation or international reference pricing for a limited number of drugs, this analysis measures the share of total Medicare Part D and Part B prescript…
Analysis: Hospital Price Transparency Data Lacks Standardization, Limiting Its Use to Insurers, Employers, and Consumers
In spite of a new price transparency rule that requires hospitals to publish the prices of common health services, comparing prices across hospitals remains challenging due to limited compliance with the law and a lack of standardization in the availab…
Early Results from Federal Price Transparency Rule Show Difficultly in Estimating the Cost of Care
A new issue brief examines compliance with a new federal price transparency rule and variation in payer-negotiated rates at U.S. hospitals. The analysis looks at the websites of the two largest hospitals in each state and the District of Columbia, and …
COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Excess Mortality and Potential Years of Life Lost in the U.S. and Peer Countries
A new issue brief reviews excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people. The analysis looks specifically at the excess deaths that arose in 2020 to ex…
Compared to Peer Countries, the U.S. Had the Highest Rate of Mortality Among People Under Age 65 and Potential Years of Life Lost in 2020 Due to the Pandemic
A new KFF issue brief examines 2020 data on excess mortality – the number of deaths above what is expected in a typical year – and finds that among similarly large and wealthy nations, the United States had the highest premature excess mortality …
Moving the Needle on Prescription Drug Costs: Using the Innovation Center and Other Demonstration Authority
This brief examines how the CMS Innovation Center (also known as CMMI) and Section 402 demonstration authority could become pathways for the Biden Administration to implement policy changes related to prescription drug costs.
March 30 Web Event: Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role – and Tenuous Circumstances – of Home Care Workers During the Pandemic
Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their o…
