The US Health Care Financing Administration provides this site, a clearinghouse of information resources on Medicare and Medicaid. Included are consumer and technical publications, national legislative information, statistical overviews, and a state directory of basic contact information, among other features.

Posted in July by Families USA (see the December 1, 1995 Scout Report), this report is billed as "the first study to both analyze the increase in prescription drug spending for the elderly from 1992 to 2000 and to project further increases over the next 10 years." The report gives data on average expenditures on prescription drugs for seniors, average number of prescriptions, average out-of-pocket...

Released on June 12, 2001 by Families USA, a national, nonprofit organization that advocates high-quality, affordable health and long term care for all Americans, this study finds that "last year and during the past 5 years, the prices of the 50 drugs most commonly used by older Americans have increased considerably faster than inflation." The report also demonstrates that the most expensive drugs...

This Web site from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion -- part of the Centers for Disease Control -- provides online health information for older adults. Resources include downloadable publications, links to informative Web sites, and a Public Health and Aging Listserv. Readers interested in age-related public health issues and research should find this site...

The vulnerability of many Medicare beneficiaries is revealed in this report, recently placed online by the Commonwealth Fund. Medicare currently insures 34 million older Americans as well as five million permanently disabled people under 65. Not only is this population "generally at high risk for acute and chronic illness," but 68 percent have incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level or have...

The Health Care Financing Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services provides this site--a consumer gateway to information about Medicare, a national health insurance program that covers 37 million Americans, mostly over age 65. Current highlights include a managed care section that contains Medicare Compare, an interactive database that allows users to compare (according to...