Are vision and hearing benefits needed in Medicare

Are vision and hearing benefits needed in Medicare

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
U.S. health reform -- monitoring and impact
Author(s):
Gangopadhyaya, Anuj, author
Shartzer, Adele, author
Garrett, Bowen, author
Holahan, John, author
Contributor(s):
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, issuing body.
Urban Institute, issuing body.
Publication:
Washington, DC : Urban Institute, November 2021
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Insurance, Vision
Insurance Benefits
Medicare
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
As part of the budget reconciliation discussions, Congress has considered expanding traditional Medicare to cover preventive dental, vision, and hearing services. The initial legislation, modeled after expansions in the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3), proposed to add all three services as benefits under Medicare Part B. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of the H.R. 3 benefits expansion at $358 billion over 10 years. During negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders, the package was pared down, and the Build Back Better legislation passed by the House in November 2021 focuses only on hearing services. A recent Urban Institute brief assessed the need for dental benefits in Medicare (Shartzer et al. 2021); here we conduct similar analyses that describe current use of and spending on routine vision and hearing services among all Medicare beneficiaries and select subgroups.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (13 pages))
NLM Unique ID:
9918367874806676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918367874806676