I'm Bowen Garrett, an economist and senior fellow in the Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute. My work focuses on Medicare financing, Medicare Advantage, and health reform — using microsimulation modeling and empirical research to inform policy.
Medicare provides health insurance coverage for 66 million elderly and disabled Americans but faces serious short- and long-term financial pressures. To address these pressures, policymakers need to consider options that involve raising additional revenues, finding ways to generate program savings, or likely both. Post-acute care…
Continue reading...Medicare buy-in policies gained prominence as potential incremental health reforms in the mid-1990s, after the Clinton administration's more ambitious health reform plan failed. Such proposals from that era would have created a guaranteed source of health insurance older adults could buy, before becoming eligible for…
Continue reading...Favorable selection in Medicare Advantage (MA) contributes to MA plans being overpaid. Reducing excessive payments to MA plans is one way to address the Medicare program's financial pressures. In this brief, we review evidence of favorable selection in MA to clarify what the various types…
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