The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of Medicare enrollees. The survey collects information on a variety of topics including beneficiaries' health status. This information is collected from two groups of beneficiaries: those living in the community and those living in facilities. Information is obtained on specific medical...

As Medicare cost increase, policymakers are searching for equitable ways to secure the program's financial base. Proposals that would require higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay a higher proportion of the program's costs are designed to increase beneficiaries' contribution without placing an unacceptable financial burden on those least able to afford it. Designing and implementing suc...

(MCBS) tracks health care expenditures for 12,000 beneficiaries. The survey is unique because it combines survey data with Medicare administrative data to give a detailed portrait of health care spending for Medicare beneficiaries. The MCBS provides health care expenditures for the Medicare population by service and payer, and it allows for analysis by demographic and socioeconomic characterist...

Most capitated programs have not generated innovative ways to organize care, but have instead concentrated on enrolling healthy beneficiaries and using crude controls on service use. Competition can lead to a number of problems for beneficiaries, including instability in the care they receive. Choice of plans will not offer many advantages for beneficiaries, particularly since it is important t...

We conducted a descriptive study examining the health status of dually eligible beneficiaries using a sample from the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS), a measure of health status administered to enrollees in Medicare managed care (MMC). Overall, we found that dually eligible beneficiaries were sicker, more depressed, and reporting more pain than Medicare-only beneficiaries. Our results sug...

(1) Medicare beneficiaries reduced their drug spending in response to interruptions in prescription coverage prior to the implementation of the Part D benefit. (2) Interruptions in drug coverage were amplified, as a response to gaps in prescription drug coverage, for those suffering from chronic conditions. (3) Trends in spending and medication utilization by Medicare beneficiaries in this stud...

T HE national survey of the resources of aged beneficiaries made by the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance in 1951 included a study of their assets1 At the end of that year, it was found, threefourths of the aged beneficiaries included in the survey owned assets. Three-fifths held liquid assets, and half had nonliquid assets. Almost two-fifths reported both liquid and nonliquid assets. T...

BACKGROUND Patients with coronary heart disease are recommended to use statins following hospital discharge. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common complication of hospitalization, but the use of statins following discharge among patients who were not initially hospitalized for AMI has not been assessed adequately. METHODS AND RESULTS Using the Medicare 5% national random sample, we de...

IMPORTANCE In a period of dynamic change in health care technology, delivery, and behaviors, tracking trends in health and health care can provide a perspective on what is being achieved. OBJECTIVE To comprehensively describe national trends in mortality, hospitalizations, and expenditures in the Medicare fee-for-service population between 1999 and 2013. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Se...