Medicare

CMS announced the 2022 Medicare & You Handbook will be available in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean, as well as English and Spanish. Medicare & You is a resource designed to help Medicare enrollees make decisions about their coverage. The new Chinese version, along with Spanish, large print, audio book, and braille versions of Medicare & You are available on Medicare.gov.

The SHIP TA Center has posted a series of videos from their Welcome to Medicare virtual fair that explain basics about enrollment, coverage, and benefits. The goal of the series is to educate Medicare-eligible individuals on the program.

NCOA and Health Management Associates (HMA) have released a new report detailing eight strategies and approaches to expand funding for evidence-based health programs. NCOA and HMA reviewed five states and one city- California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York City, and Washington- with community-based organizations that have strong partnerships with Medicaid agencies and managed-care organizations.

The CMS Office of the Actuary released the 2018 National Health Expenditures. The study includes estimates on health care services and goods, health insurance costs, government administration, public health activities, and other areas related to health care including personal care, residential services, and nursing care facilities.

This infographic provides information on coverage and costs for low-income Medicare beneficiaries. The resource describes people on Medicare, financial needs among beneficiaries, programs supporting low-income beneficiaries, and ways to improve access.

Older adults are affected by the opioid public health emergency because they often use prescription opioids to cope with painful chronic conditions or procedures. This issue briefing provides a summary about the problem, treatments, federal strategies to address the crisis, and funding and programs that are addressing this issue. The briefing also highlights innovative programs to address the opioid public health emergency in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

For individuals who receive services from both Medicare and Medicaid, care is often fragmented across a wide array of medical, behavioral health, and long-term care providers. Medicare and Medicaid offer otherwise uncoordinated systems of care with different eligibility criteria, benefits, provider networks, and enrollment processes. This issue brief describes key features of effective integrated care programs and presents top policy considerations driving state investment in these programs.

Previous studies have demonstrated that socially isolated older adults are at greater risk for poor health and death than their well-connected counterparts. The AARP Public Policy Institute has released a new report that examines whether social isolation also affects health care spending among older adults, and finds that a lack of social contacts among older adults is associated with an estimated $6.7 billion in additional Medicare spending annually.

This fact sheet from the AARP Public Policy Institute provides 10 key facts about the Medicare population. It includes information about age, health, coverage, financial resources, and more.

This Spotlight from the AARP Public Policy Institute discusses the Medicare home health benefit that serves millions of Americans. The Medicare home health benefit allows many homebound older adults to get skilled care in their homes. This Spotlight includes information about Medicare rules for coverage of home health care services.