This review article discusses disparities in immunization rates for beneficiaries of the US Medicare program. The review considers: 1) historical and statistical information on rates of immunization; 2) goals set forward by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities related to adult immunization; 3) barriers experienced by Medicare ben...

Well-documented racial disparities in use of medical services raise concerns about such disparities in other aspects of health care. We compare the difference in Medicaid pharmacy use between black and white dually eligible Medicare beneficiaries. Controlling for the presence of chronic illnesses, we find that black beneficiaries have significantly fewer prescriptions filled and lower pharmacy ...

Beginning January 2006, Medicare beneficiaries will have limited ability to change health plans. We examine the Medicare managed care enrollment and disenrollment behavior of traditionally vulnerable beneficiaries from 1999-2001 to estimate the potential impact of the new enrollment restrictions. Findings that several such groups were more likely to make multiple health plan elections, leave th...

Results of a survey conducted in the summer of 1985 of beneficiaries of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and a matched group of Medicaid beneficiaries concerning their access to and satisfaction with medical care services are described in this article. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System is an alternative to Medicaid's acute medical care coverage. The results of the s...

Reliable measures of Medicare beneficiaries' program knowledge are necessary for credible program monitoring, evaluation, and public accountability. This study developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of two possible measures of beneficiary knowledge. One measure was based on self-reported knowledge, the other was a true/false quiz which requires beneficiaries to demonstrate their kn...

Analysis of linked Medicare/Medicaid data files from four New England States (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire) confirm that dually eligible beneficiaries used a disproportionate amount of both Medicare and Medicaid resources in 1995, driven largely by the significant subset of the population that used institutional long-term care (LTC). If States and the Federal Government ...

Despite being a vulnerable and costly population, little is known about disabled Medicaid beneficiaries. Using data from a 1999-2000 survey, we describe the population and their health care experiences in terms of access, use, and satisfaction with care. Results indicate that disabled beneficiaries are a unique population with wide-ranging circumstances and health conditions. Our results on acc...

This article has three objectives: to estimate how many eligible elderly beneficiaries are participating in the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program; to determine the characteristics of participating and non participating eligibles; and to identify the most significant barriers to program participation. We used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and the Medicare Bu...

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 required CMS to report publicly Medicare managed care (MMC) plan voluntary disenrollment rates. To ensure disenrollment rates would be meaningful to beneficiaries in health plan choice, CMS funded the development of surveys and reporting formats to identify and present the reasons that beneficiaries voluntarily leave plans. Public reporting of reasons on th...

The proposed Part E, Medicare Extra, outlined in this paper adds a comprehensive benefit option to Medicare, eliminating the need for beneficiaries to purchase a private drug plan and Medigap supplemental coverage. Financed by a budget-neutral beneficiary premium, it has the advantages of greater simplicity, efficiency, and value without adding to federal costs. Beneficiaries now enrolled in Me...