Medicare: Spending and Financing - Kaiser Family Foundation

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Medicare: Spending and Financing

Financing Medicare: An Issue Brief
This issue brief provides an overview of Medicare's financing and the fiscal challenges the program faces in the coming decades. The brief describes how Medicare is financed and examines several methods of assessing its long-term financial outlook.

Health Care on a Budget: An Analysis of Spending by Medicare Households
This report finds that Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket health care costs comprise a significant share of their household expenses -- 14.1 percent of all expenditures, which is less than housing but about the same as transportation and food.

Recent Documents: (22 results)

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Revisiting 'Skin in the Game' Among Medicare Beneficiaries: An Updated Analysis of the Increasing Financial Burden of Health Care Spending From 1997 to 2005 -- February 2009
This data update finds the financial burden of out-of-pocket health care spending by Medicare beneficiaries increasing between 1997 and 2005.

Health Care on a Budget: An Analysis of Spending by Medicare Households -- February 2009
This report by Kaiser researchers finds that out-of-pocket health care spending accounted for a significant share of all expenditures for Medicare households –- less than housing but about the same as transportation and food.

Pulling it Together from Drew Altman: Multiple Agendas for Controlling Health Care Costs -- January 2009
In his latest essay for "Pulling It Together, From Drew Altman," the Foundation's President and CEO considers whether multiple, and sometimes conflicting agendas for controlling health spending and care costs could play out in separate or combined "grand bargain" health reform and entitlement debates.

The Public's Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress -- January 2009
This survey captures the public's attitudes regarding the health care agenda for President-elect Obama and the new Congress in 2009. It assesses the relative priority placed on health care by the American public as part of addressing the economic recession and as a large scale reform issue.

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 Spending and Financing Fact Sheet -- September 2008
This updated fact sheet provides an overview of spending on the Medicare program, how the program is financed, and Medicare’s future financial outlook. It includes the latest available data on Medicare financing.

The Medicare Part D Coverage Gap: Costs and Consequences in 2007 -- August 2008
This study quantifies, for the first time, the number of Medicare Part D plan enrollees in 2007 who reached a gap in their prescription drug coverage known as the "doughnut hole," as well as the changes in beneficiaries' use of medications and out-of-pocket spending after they reached that gap.

Medicare and the President's Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Proposal -- February 2008
This fact sheet summarizes key Medicare-related provisions in the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, as well as additional legislation that responses the Medicare Trustees' "Medicare Funding Warning."

Financing Medicare: An Issue Brief -- January 2008
This issue brief provides an overview of Medicare's financing and the fiscal challenges the program faces in the coming decades and examines several methods of assessing its long-term financial outlook.

This data update finds the financial burden of out-of-pocket health care spending by Medicare beneficiaries increasing between 1997 and 2005.

This report by Kaiser researchers finds that out-of-pocket health care spending accounted for a significant share of all expenditures for Medicare households –- less than housing but about the same as transportation and food.

In his latest essay for "Pulling It Together, From Drew Altman," the Foundation's President and CEO considers whether multiple, and sometimes conflicting agendas for controlling health spending and care costs could play out in separate or combined "grand bargain" health reform and entitlement debates.

This survey captures the public's attitudes regarding the health care agenda for President-elect Obama and the new Congress in 2009. It assesses the relative priority placed on health care by the American public as part of addressing the economic recession and as a large scale reform issue.

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 updated fact sheet provides an overview of spending on the Medicare program, how the program is financed, and Medicare’s future financial outlook. It includes the latest available data on Medicare financing.

This study quantifies, for the first time, the number of Medicare Part D plan enrollees in 2007 who reached a gap in their prescription drug coverage known as the "doughnut hole," as well as the changes in beneficiaries' use of medications and out-of-pocket spending after they reached that gap.

This fact sheet summarizes key Medicare-related provisions in the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, as well as additional legislation that responses the Medicare Trustees' "Medicare Funding Warning."

This issue brief provides an overview of Medicare's financing and the fiscal challenges the program faces in the coming decades and examines several methods of assessing its long-term financial outlook.

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Medicare: Spending and Financing

Spending on Medicare is estimated to account for 13 percent of federal spending in 2009. Inpatient hospital services comprise the largest share of Medicare benefit payments, followed by payments to Medicare Advantage plans, physician visits, and prescription drug benefits. Medicare spending is highly concentrated among a small share of beneficiaries, and varies by eligibility category. Funding for Medicare comes primarily from payroll tax revenues, general revenues, and premiums paid by beneficiaries. Looking to the future, Medicare is expected to face significant financing challenges due to the aging of the U.S. population, the declining ratio of workers to beneficiaries, increasing health care costs, and various economic factors. How to ensure the program’s financial stability over the long term without shifting excessive costs onto beneficiaries, while meeting the health care needs of an aging population, is a pressing challenge for the nation.