Medicare

Health Insurance Cost Sharing
commentary
Medicare for All: Sounds Good, but What Does It Mean?
David Anderson, Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu, Mark W. Friedberg
Nov 19, 2018
Health Affairs Blog
Traditional Medicare is popular and therefore can lend a good brand name to coverage expansion proposals, but its limits can be significant for some patients. Those proposing and evaluating “Medicare for All” proposals should consider whether and how these limits are addressed.
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Wildfires
blog
Australia's Fires, Artificial Intelligence, Fentanyl: RAND Weekly Recap
Jan 24, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on Australia's devastating fires, how artificial intelligence could manipulate the masses, the fentanyl crisis, and more.
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Medicare
blog
Medicare, Climate Change, 'Superbugs': RAND Weekly Recap
Nov 22, 2019
This weekly recap focuses on opening Medicare to Americans at age 50, how to assess climate change plans, antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and more.
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International Economic Relations
blog
School Reform, Sanctions, Russian Aggression: RAND Weekly Recap
Apr 19, 2019
This weekly recap focuses on what educators think about school reform, the devastating impacts of economic sanctions, deterring Russian aggression in the Baltics, and more.
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Medicare
blog
Medicare for All, Principals, Cigarette Labels: RAND Weekly Recap
Apr 12, 2019
This weekly recap focuses on spending estimates under Medicare for All, the benefits of principal pipelines, graphic warning labels on cigarettes, and more.
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Health Care Pay for Performance
commentary
Improving MACRA's Chances of Success
Adam J. Rose, Peter S. Hussey, Monique Martineau, Mark W. Friedberg
Jan 9, 2017
The Health Care Blog
Starting in 2019, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act will integrate and potentially simplify performance measurement by combining many measures and programs. Research provides insight into how to avoid pitfalls in MACRA's rollout.
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Prescription Drug Benefits
commentary
Easing the Pain When Critical Medications Are No Longer Covered
Erin Audrey Taylor
Oct 28, 2016
The Hill
Allowing insurance companies to limit the drugs they cover is necessary to give them leverage that can result in lower medication costs for all patients. Still, there are ways to make the process more transparent and manageable.
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Integrative Medicine
essay
Science and the Healing Arts
Apr 29, 2016
Americans spend billions of dollars out of pocket seeking relief from chronic conditions in alternative schools of health, such as acupuncture or chiropractic. What would it take to more fully integrate such practices into the mainstream?
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Medicare
commentary
Medicare at 50: How Reforming End-of-Life Care Could Benefit It for Years to Come
Erin Audrey Taylor
Jul 30, 2015
U.S. News & World Report
As Medicare turns 50, skyrocketing health care costs and the aging of baby boomers both threaten the program's long-term viability. One solution that could go a long way would be to change the way the program handles and pays for end-of-life care.
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End of Life Care
commentary
Let People Make Their Own End-of-Life Decisions
Sangeeta C. Ahluwalia, Neil S. Wenger, Karl Lorenz
Jul 15, 2015
Newsweek
Major advances in health technology have helped people to live longer, but not necessarily better, lives. Medicare recently announced plans to reimburse providers for time spent counseling patients and their caregivers about the kind of care patients would want to receive near the end of their lives.
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Affordable Care Act
blog
Five Years of the Affordable Care Act
Mar 23, 2015
The Affordable Care Act has officially been part of the U.S. health care landscape for five years. We reflect on the twists and turns that followed its passage and the RAND research that informed debates along the way, and look ahead to the future of the ACA.
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Health Care Quality Measurement
commentary
Putting Patients First Can Result in Better Care Overall
Rebecca Anhang Price, Marc N. Elliott, Ron D. Hays
Jul 28, 2014
The RAND Blog
Better patient care experiences are associated with higher levels of adherence to recommended prevention and treatment processes, better clinical outcomes, better patient safety within hospitals, and less health care utilization.
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Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
commentary
10 Ways Innovation Could Help Cure the U.S. Health Spending Problem
Steven Garber
Apr 29, 2014
The Health Care Blog
Many studies grapple with how to control spending by considering changing how existing technologies are used. But what if the problem could be attacked at its root by changing which drugs and devices are invented in the first place?
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Health Care Costs
commentary
Is the ACA Keeping a Lid on Growth in Healthcare Spending?
Chapin White @ChapinWhite
Apr 3, 2014
The Hill
Some point to the healthcare spending slowdown as an early success of the Affordable Care Act. Others warn that it's merely a hangover from the recession, and that the inevitable spending rebound will be exacerbated by the ACA coverage expansions.
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Health Care Costs
blog
Small Ideas for Saving Big Health Care Dollars (No. 11-14)
Jan 29, 2014
Focusing on smaller, more focused approaches can identify less controversial opportunities for modest health care savings.
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Health Care Costs
blog
Small Ideas for Saving Big Health Care Dollars (No. 4-7)
Jan 15, 2014
Focusing on smaller, more focused approaches can identify less controversial opportunities for modest health care savings.
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Health Care Costs
blog
Small Ideas for Saving Big Health Care Dollars (No. 1-3)
Jan 8, 2014
Focusing on smaller, more focused approaches can identify less controversial opportunities for modest health care savings.
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Medicare Part D
commentary
An Inexpensive Prescription for Medicare
Walid F. Gellad
Nov 18, 2013
The RAND Blog
If Congress wants to save Medicare, it can start by driving waste and excess out of the system. This can be done without impoverishing patients or driving doctors out of business, if physicians are willing to practice smarter, more efficient medicine. Spending on prescription drugs is a case in point.
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Health Care Costs
commentary
Remove Medicare's Straitjacket
Arthur L. Kellermann
Mar 29, 2013
Los Angeles Times
Removing the constraints on Medicare would not only lead to lower prices at the drugstore, hospital and doctor's office, it could spark a new era of healthcare innovation, says Arthur Kellermann.
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Medicare
commentary
A Health Care Entitlement Worth Ending
Arthur L. Kellermann
Feb 27, 2013
Health Affairs Blog
The health care “entitlement” we need to reform is the notion that America's health care system is entitled to an ever-growing share of America's wealth, writes Arthur Kellermann.
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Affordable Care Act
commentary
Health Care Costs Must Be Curbed, No Matter Who Wins
Arthur L. Kellermann
Oct 17, 2012
The Orange County Register
Regardless of which candidate wins in November, and regardless of whether “Obamacare” is repealed, amended, or defended by the next Congress, the next president will have to contend with the spiraling cost of health care in the United States—a problem that is growing more acute with each passing year, writes Arthur Kellermann.
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Patient Safety
blog
Multiple Patient Safety Events in Hospitals
Jun 5, 2012
A patient safety event is any event or action that could lead to a worse outcome for a patient, from bedsores to post-operative respiratory failure.
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Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
commentary
Prescription Drug Shortages: Reconsidering the Role of Medicare Payment Policies
Mireille Jacobson, Abby Alpert, Fabian Duarte
May 30, 2012
Health Affairs Blog
The focus on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) as a primary cause of prescription drug shortages is premature and may deflect attention away from identifying other potentially more important causes, write Mireille Jacobson, Abby Alpert, and Fabian Duarte.
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Health Care Access
blog
Attempts by States to Save Money by Locking Medicaid Enrollees out of the ED Are Likely to Backfire
Robin M. Weinick
May 21, 2012
In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, we argue that attempts by states to save money by seeking to lock Medicaid enrollees out of the emergency department are likely to backfire. We argue that a better solution is to reverse what for many years has been a trend of shrinking access to primary care for Medicaid beneficiaries.
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