Reports

AARP recently released a report titled “Respite Services: A Critical Support for Family Caregivers,” exploring respite, its impact on family caregivers, and barriers to its use. In this report, AARP reviews federal and state programs that provide and/or pay for respite, including some examples of innovative programs that currently exist in communities. AARP also provides recommendations toward improvements in respite research and offers insights into how some respite programs are being scaled up.

AARP recently released an analysis examining existing state pharmaceutical assistance programs (SPAPs) and their characteristics, highlighting how specific federal prescription drug reforms could generate savings for SPAPs. SPAPs are state-run programs that help pay prescription drug-related costs for certain populations with limited financial resources, including older adults. Today, 13 states operate a SPAP to help older adults afford their prescription drugs, down from 23 SPAPs in 2004. Prescription drug reforms enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that will be implemented over the next several years will affect SPAPs and could lead to savings for the programs. While none of the law’s provisions directly address SPAPs...

On January 31, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a report titled “Medicare Enrollees and the Part D Drug Benefit: Improving Financial Protection through the Low-Income Subsidy.” The report highlights findings from an analysis of Medicare data from 2020, including that the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) expanded financial assistance in Medicare’s Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) Program would have benefited nearly 461,000 Partial LIS enrollees had the provision been in effect in 2020. An additional 2.9 million Part D enrollees who were eligible but not enrolled in LIS would also have benefited from the program...

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, through its Housing an Aging Society Program, recently released its biannual report titled “Housing America’s Older Adults 2023.” The Housing an Aging Society Program aims to deepen understanding of the implications of aging populations and advance policy, planning, design, and public health solutions to address the housing needs of older adults. The 2023 report explores equitable access to affordable, accessible, safe, and connected housing. The report highlights a 34 percent increase in the US population aged 65 and over in the past decade, reaching 58 million in 2022...

ADvancing States and the ARPA HCBS TA Collective are pleased to announce the release of an issue brief examining states’ efforts to understand the impact of their home and community-based (HCBS) projects implemented with unprecedented new Federal investment under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With such a massive investment in our nation’s largest HCBS delivery systems, it is critically important to distill learnings about which types of the states’ investments resulted in desired outcomes and which did not. Armed with such information, our state and national leaders will be better informed to establish policies when making future investments related to Medicaid HCBS.

The Milken Institute's latest report sheds light on a noteworthy demographic shift taking place in the United States. Projections suggest that by 2034, the population of older adults (aged 65 and above) will surpass that of individuals under 18. This shift is anticipated to lead to a significant rise in the older adult population, reaching 80 million by 2040, up from 55.7 million in 2020. Notably, the segment of the population aged 85 and older, requiring increased assistance, is expected to double by 2040. This demographic transformation poses challenges in providing appropriate and affordable housing and care options for older adults...

KFF recently released a policy watch titled “What Are the Implications of the Recent Elimination of the Medicaid Prescription Drug Rebate Cap?” As of January 1, 2024, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) lifted the cap on the total amount of rebates that Medicaid could collect from manufacturers who raise drug prices substantially over time. Anticipating the implementation of this policy, drug manufacturers have made various changes allowing them to avoid increased rebates resulting from the lifting of the cap. Recent changes that have garnered attention include price cuts for insulin, used to treat diabetes, and the discontinuation of Flovent, a frequently used asthma inhaler....

KFF recently published a policy watch examining the challenges faced by states during the unwinding of continuous Medicaid enrollment, resulting in over 14 million disenrollments, primarily due to procedural issues. To assist states in meeting federal renewal requirements, CMS has granted temporary waivers under "1902(e)(14)(A)," categorized into four buckets: options to increase ex parte renewals, support for enrollees in completing renewal forms, updating enrollee contact information, and facilitating re-enrollment for individuals disenrolled due to procedural terminations. As of January 12, 2023, CMS had approved a total of 392 waivers for 49 states and the District of Columbia...

The AARP Public Policy Institute's latest report in their Rx Price Watch series highlights the impact of prescription drug price increases on consumers, employers, private insurers, and taxpayers, affecting programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The report presents annual and 15-year cumulative price changes, until the end of 2020, for a comprehensive set of 943 prescription drugs widely used by older adults, emphasizing the potential long-term consequences on health care coverage costs, taxes, and public programs.

KFF recently released an issue brief titled “Unwinding of Medicaid Continuous Enrollment: Key Themes from the Field,” exploring the implications of the end of Medicaid continuous enrollment on March 31, 2023. As continuous enrollment comes to an end, states will be required to complete an eligibility renewal for all Medicaid and CHIP enrollees by May 2024 – a process commonly referred to as “unwinding.” This brief examines the perspectives of state officials and others involved in the unwinding process. KFF worked with PerryUndem to conduct interviews with representatives from Medicaid managed care plans, primary care associations, legal aid and other advocacy organizations, and navigator organizations in four states...