Latest Reports on Health Policy

• Medicare+Choice plans have cut back on benefits such as prescription drug coverage in 2002 while raising monthly premiums by 40% and increasing cost-sharing "substantial[ly]," according to two new Commonwealth Fund reports. The reports, both written by Lori Achman and Marsha Gold of Mathematica Policy Research, state that the decreased benefits and increased costs are affecting people in poor health the most. The reports are titled "Average Out-of-Pocket Costs for Medicare+Choice Enrollees Increase Substantially in 2002" and "Trends in Medicare+Choice Benefits and Premiums, 1999-2002" (Commonwealth Fund release, 11/1).