A new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute examines changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefit policies and the implications for people with Medicare.

MA plans have long been able to offer benefits beyond what is required by law. However, the recent Balanced Budget Act of 2018 and regulatory decisions, including those in the 2019 Part C and D final rule and the Final Call Letter for 2019, have greatly increased this authority.

Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) is a primary way for people with Medicare to understand and compare their coverage choices. MPF should allow beneficiaries, caregivers, and unbiased counselors to find the coverage that best serves the needs of the individual. A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) agrees with previous research on MPF that the tool has significant problems that interfere with its usefulness.

A new study reveals that Medicaid expansion has reduced deaths in states where it has been adopted. By contrast, in states that have refused to expand their Medicaid coverage, approximately 15,600 people have died as a result. This study is the first large-scale assessment of the effect of Medicaid expansion on mortality.

This week, the Senate Finance Committee unveiled long-awaited drug pricing legislation, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) of 2019. The bill outlines a number of changes to address the problem of high and rising drug prices within the Medicare program, including a redesign of the Part D benefit and the imposition of inflationary rebates.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released two reports on the Medicare hospice

Last week, the Trump administration decided to shelve a proposed rule that sought to change the way Medicare prescription drug

A rule from the Trump administration that sought to require prescription drug manufacturers to include pricing information in their television

This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in Texas v. U.S., the latest legal challenge

This week, the Center for Medicare Advocacy released a new resource on the Medicare Improvement Standard. The issue brief, “Implementing Jimmo v. Sebelius: An Overview Settlement implementation,” is intended to provide Medicare stakeholders with an overview of the Jimmo Settlement, what it means in different care settings, and links and references to helpful resource materials.

This week, the House Committee on Ways and Means advanced the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (S. 1280/H.R. 2477) in a markup that considered a series of Medicare-related bills. The BENES Act is now included in a larger bipartisan package that was unanimously reported favorably out of Committee—the Beneficiary Education Tools, Telehealth, and Extenders Reauthorization (BETTER) Act of 2019 (H.R. 3417).