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...

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 ar...

BACKGROUND The prevalence, health care expenditures, and hospitalization experiences are important considerations among elderly populations with multiple chronic conditions. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on a nationally random sample of 1 217 103 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 and older living in the United States and enrolled in both Medicare Part A and Med...

PURPOSE We assess the effect of consumer-directed care on the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of the primary informal caregivers of the Medicaid beneficiaries who voluntarily joined Arkansas's Cash and Counseling demonstration. DESIGN AND METHODS The demonstration randomly assigned beneficiaries to a program in which they could direct their own disability-related supportive serv...

ISSUE: Fifty-six million people--17 percent of the U.S. population--rely on Medicare. Yet, its benefits exclude dental, vision, hearing, and long-term services, and it contains no ceiling on out-of-pocket costs for covered services, exposing beneficiaries to high costs. GOAL: To inform discussion of possible changes to Medicare, this issue brief looks at beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs by in...

There are numerous types of benefits paid under the Social Security programs of the United States, with each type of benefit having its own set of eligibility rules and benefit formula. It is likely that there is an association between the type of benefit a person receives and the economic circumstances of the beneficiary. This article explores that association using records from the Current Po...