RS21675
Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: Estimates of Beneficiaries Who Fall Below Countable Income Thresholds, by State
November 20, 2003

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Summary:

The Senate and House have passed bills -- S. 1 and H.R. 1 -- to add prescription drug benefits and to make other changes to Medicare. A conference committee has announced an agreement that reconciles differences between the two bills, but the specific provisions are not yet known. All the bills provide subsidies to low-income beneficiaries for prescription drug coverage and use various poverty thresholds to determine eligibility. Using the most recent data, this report provides state-by-state estimates of the percentage and number of beneficiaries who fall below various lowincome thresholds, using the definition of income specified in the legislation. The asset (or "resource") requirements included in these proposals were not factored into the analysis. This report replaces CRS Report RL31736, Medicare Prescription Drug Proposals: Estimates of Aged Beneficiaries Who Fall Below Income Criteria, by State and will be updated to reflect legislative developments. The Senate and House have passed bills -- the Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003 (S. 1) and the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003 (H.R. 1) -- to add prescription drug benefits and to make other changes to Medicare. A conference committee has announced an agreement that reconciles differences between the two bills, but the specific provisions are not yet known. Both bills provide subsidies to low-income beneficiaries for prescription drug coverage and use various poverty thresholds to determine eligibility. For a full discussion of the prescription drug benefits for low-income beneficiaries and the income thresholds for which they apply under H.R. 1 and S. 1, see CRS Report RL31525, Medicare: Beneficiary Cost-Sharing Under Prescription Drug Legislation, as well as RS21583, Medicare Prescription Drug Legislation: Comparison of Actuarial Values. Table 1 shows estimates of the percentage and number of noninstitutionalized aged (age 65 or older) Medicare beneficiaries below various income thresholds, for each state and nationally. Table 2 shows the same estimates except it is for all noninstitutionalized beneficiaries, not just the aged.