Study Examines Beneficiaries’ Spending for Medicare Part D; Issue Brief Examines Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans

• "The Impact of the Medicare Drug Benefit on Health Care Spending by Older Households," Center for Economic and Policy Research: The study finds that most Medicare beneficiaries have experienced no reductions in health care spending as a result of the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The study used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditures Survey to compare spending from 2005 to 2006 in older households and found that only seniors who were most likely to qualify for additional Medicare drug benefit subsidies experienced savings (Center for Economic and Policy Research release, 12/4).
  
  
• "The Emerging Role of Group Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans," Kaiser Family Foundation: The issue brief examines the emerging role of Medicare Advantage private fee-for-service plans as an option for employers offering retiree health benefits. According to the brief, the number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in MA group plans almost doubled from 900,000 to nearly 1.7 million between 2006 and June, and most of the growth is attributable to employers contracting with group plans to cover their Medicare-eligible retirees. The brief examines changes in regulation, statute and the marketplace that appear to influence employer interest in private fee-for-service plans. It also explains how the current payment system might help some employers reduce retiree health care costs with such plans and how that change could increase Medicare spending (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 12/4).