Medicare costs prior to retirement for disabled-worker beneficiaries.

This article is the last in a series of studies concerning Medicare program costs of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries who were under age 62 at time of entitlement to disabled-worker benefits. The earlier work provided the statistical analysis and mathematical models needed to construct estimates of Medicare costs for those beneficiaries while in the DI program. In this article, estimated costs are presented for beneficiaries with various characteristics. Data are also presented that relate possible extensions of Medicare eligibility-elimination of the 2-year waiting period and full Medicare coverage for recovered beneficiaries-to estimated Medicare costs for DI beneficiaries through age 64 under current law. For the 1972 cohort of disabled-workers in this study, the per capita Medicare cost is estimated to be $20,129 at 1989 reimbursement levels. This cost is about 37 percent of the size of estimated cash benefits for the cohort while in the DI program. Elimination of the Medicare waiting period would result in an estimated cost increase of 29 percent. Extending Medicare eligibility through age 64 to all recovered beneficiaries would result in a cost increase of about 9 percent, assuming no Medicare “buy in” in effect.