Medicare: Retiree Benefits - Kaiser Family Foundation

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Medicare: Retiree Benefits

2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey
The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey documents the rising costs of retiree benefits for large private-sector employers and their retirees, looking at benefits, cost-sharing and other changes. It also provides information on employers' evolving strategies to respond to the Medicare drug law and its subsidies for employers that continue to provide drug coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees.

New Election 2008 Brief Examines Medicare's Current and Future Policy Issues
This brief, part of a series of 2008 election briefs on key health policy issues, provides an overview of Medicare and offers a series of questions to help understand how presidential candidates Senators McCain and Obama would address Medicare policy challenges if elected.

Recent Documents: (59 results)

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The Emerging Role of Group Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans -- December 2008
This brief examines the recent boom in Medicare Advantage enrollment attributable to employers contracting with private fee-for-service plans to serve their retirees.

Medicare: A Primer -- December 2008
This primer provides an overview of the Medicare program, how it is structured, who it serves, and how it works.

Medicare at a Glance - Fact Sheet -- November 2008
This fact sheet provides a basic overview of the Medicare program, including how it is financed, who is eligible and what benefits are covered under the program. In addition, it describes supplemental health insurance, benefits provided by the new drug law and data on Medicare expenditures and financing.

Medicare Part D 2009 Data Spotlight: Low-Income Subsidy Plan Availability -- November 2008
This Medicare Part D Data Spotlight focuses on the availability of drug plans for beneficiaries receiving the Part D low-income subsidy in 2009 and changes since 2006. The spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2009.

How Does the Benefit Value of Medicare Compare to the Benefit Value of Typical Large Employer Plans? -- September 2008
This Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds that, even with its new drug benefit, Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees.

Kaiser Fast Facts -- May 2008
“Kaiser Fast Facts” features “QuickTakes” and “Kaiser Slides” – two tools that provide direct access to facts, data and slides about the nation's health care system and programs, in an easy-to-use format. “QuickTakes” presents an inventory of facts-at-a-glance and "Kaiser Slides" allows Web visitors to freely view, download and print graphics and tables of health policy statistics and trends.

Low-Income Assistance Under the Medicare Drug Benefit -- February 2008
This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicare drug benefit and the additional subsidies available to certain eligible low-income beneficiaries.

2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey -- December 2006
The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers assesses their evolving responses to the new Medicare drug benefit in 2006. It also looks at the rising costs and changing benefits of retiree health coverage overall in 2006, as well as the outlook for 2007 and beyond.

Retired Steelworkers and Their Health Benefits: Results from a 2004 Survey -- May 2006
This Kaiser survey report looks at how the bankruptcies of two steel companies, the LTV Corporation and Bethlehem Steel, affected health coverage for about 200,000 of the companies' retirees and dependents, and it provides insight into the impact of a tax credit enacted by Congress in 2002 to provide temporary assistance to workers and retirees in "distressed" industries, including the steel industry.

Welcome -- April 2006
Talking About Medicare: Your Guide to Understanding the Program: Welcome

This online consumer guide helps people on Medicare and their family members and caregivers to make informed decisions about their health care. It offers answers to basic questions about Medicare eligibility and coverage. It also includes a chapter devoted to the new Medicare prescription drug law and its implications for consumers.

This brief examines the recent boom in Medicare Advantage enrollment attributable to employers contracting with private fee-for-service plans to serve their retirees.

This primer provides an overview of the Medicare program, how it is structured, who it serves, and how it works.

This fact sheet provides a basic overview of the Medicare program, including how it is financed, who is eligible and what benefits are covered under the program. In addition, it describes supplemental health insurance, benefits provided by the new drug law and data on Medicare expenditures and financing.

This Medicare Part D Data Spotlight focuses on the availability of drug plans for beneficiaries receiving the Part D low-income subsidy in 2009 and changes since 2006. The spotlight is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the Medicare Part D drug plans that will be available to beneficiaries in 2009.

This Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds that, even with its new drug benefit, Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees.

“Kaiser Fast Facts” features “QuickTakes” and “Kaiser Slides” – two tools that provide direct access to facts, data and slides about the nation's health care system and programs, in an easy-to-use format. “QuickTakes” presents an inventory of facts-at-a-glance and "Kaiser Slides" allows Web visitors to freely view, download and print graphics and tables of health policy statistics and trends.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicare drug benefit and the additional subsidies available to certain eligible low-income beneficiaries.

The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers assesses their evolving responses to the new Medicare drug benefit in 2006. It also looks at the rising costs and changing benefits of retiree health coverage overall in 2006, as well as the outlook for 2007 and beyond.

This Kaiser survey report looks at how the bankruptcies of two steel companies, the LTV Corporation and Bethlehem Steel, affected health coverage for about 200,000 of the companies' retirees and dependents, and it provides insight into the impact of a tax credit enacted by Congress in 2002 to provide temporary assistance to workers and retirees in "distressed" industries, including the steel industry.

Talking About Medicare: Your Guide to Understanding the Program: Welcome

This online consumer guide helps people on Medicare and their family members and caregivers to make informed decisions about their health care. It offers answers to basic questions about Medicare eligibility and coverage. It also includes a chapter devoted to the new Medicare prescription drug law and its implications for consumers.

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Medicare: Retiree Benefits

Employer-sponsored health plans play a critical role in filling gaps in health insurance coverage for retirees. For workers who retire in their late fifties or early sixties—before they are eligible for Medicare—employer-sponsored plans offer access to health insurance coverage that retirees may otherwise have difficulty obtaining. For those age 65 and older, employer-sponsored health plans are a vital source of insurance that supplements Medicare by assisting with cost-sharing requirements and paying for benefits that are not covered by Medicare, especially prescription drugs. Employer health plans provide needed coverage to retirees at a time in their lives when they are most likely to face medical problems and need health care that can be prohibitively expensive without the financial protection offered by health insurance.

Over the past decade, however, there has been a steady erosion of retiree health insurance benefits that threatens, in the future, to increase the number of early retirees who may be uninsured before age 65 and to diminish needed supplemental coverage for retirees with Medicare. Looking to the future, there is concern that the recent downturn in the economy, the weakening of the labor market, and double-digit increases in health care costs may hasten the decline of retiree health benefits.