Subject(s)
Medicare/statistics & numerical data , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Aged , Alzheimer Disease/epidemiology , Health Expenditures/statistics & numerical data , Health Surveys , Humans , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Medicare/economics , Nursing Homes/statistics & numerical data , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Survey reports from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) were matched to Medicare administrative files to create the 1992 MCBS Cost and Use file. This file improves on previous MCBS Access-to-Care user files by representing the entire (ever enrolled) Medicare population and including services not covered by Medicare such as outpatient prescription drugs and long-term facility care. The matching and reconciliation process improved the accuracy and completeness of health care use and cost. For example, Medicare billing data corrected 22 percent of survey reports that did not record Medicare as a payer and 39 percent in which the amount was missing.
Subject(s)
Health Care Surveys/methods , Medicare/statistics & numerical data , Drug Prescriptions/statistics & numerical data , Health Care Costs/statistics & numerical data , Health Maintenance Organizations/economics , Health Maintenance Organizations/statistics & numerical data , Insurance Claim Review , Medicare/economics , Nursing Homes/statistics & numerical data , United States , Utilization Review/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a powerful tool for analyzing enrollees' access to medical care (Adler, 1994). Based on a stratified random sample, we can derive information about the health care use, expenditure, and financing of Medicare's 36 million enrollees. We can also learn about those enrollees' health status, living arrangements, and access to and satisfaction with care. In the charts that follow, we have presented some findings on enrollee information needs in 1994, number of beneficiaries with information needs met, and sources of information used by beneficiaries. These charts attempt to answer the following questions: What types of needs do our beneficiaries have? How well do our beneficiaries understand Medicare?
Subject(s)
Information Services/statistics & numerical data , Medicare/organization & administration , Aged , Data Collection , Health Care Surveys , Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data , Health Services Needs and Demand/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Information Services/supply & distribution , Insurance Benefits , Insurance Coverage , Medicare/statistics & numerical data , United StatesSubject(s)
Drug Utilization/statistics & numerical data , Fee-for-Service Plans/economics , Health Maintenance Organizations/economics , Medicare/statistics & numerical data , Drug Utilization/economics , Fee-for-Service Plans/statistics & numerical data , Financing, Personal/statistics & numerical data , Health Care Surveys , Health Maintenance Organizations/statistics & numerical data , Prescription Fees/statistics & numerical data , United StatesSubject(s)
Fee-for-Service Plans/statistics & numerical data , Health Maintenance Organizations/statistics & numerical data , Medicare/statistics & numerical data , Age Factors , Aged , Data Collection , Disability Evaluation , Fee-for-Service Plans/economics , Female , Health Maintenance Organizations/economics , Health Status , Humans , Income/statistics & numerical data , Male , Medicare/economics , United StatesSubject(s)
Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data , Medicare Part B/statistics & numerical data , Office Visits/statistics & numerical data , Appointments and Schedules , Health Services Accessibility/economics , Insurance Benefits , Medicaid/statistics & numerical data , Time Factors , Transportation , Travel , United StatesABSTRACT
This article describes private supplementary health insurance holdings and average premiums paid by Medicare enrollees. Data were collected as part of the 1992 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). Data show the number of persons with insurance and average premiums paid by type of insurance held--individually purchased policies, employer-sponsored policies, or both. Distributions are shown for a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and health status variables. Primary findings include: Seventy-eight percent of Medicare beneficiaries have private supplementary insurance; 25 percent of those with private insurance hold more than one policy. The average premium paid for private insurance in 1992 was $914.
Subject(s)
Fees and Charges/statistics & numerical data , Insurance, Health/economics , Medicare Part B/economics , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Health Benefit Plans, Employee/economics , Health Benefit Plans, Employee/statistics & numerical data , Health Status , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Insurance, Health/statistics & numerical data , Male , Medicare Part B/statistics & numerical data , Middle Aged , Private Sector , Socioeconomic Factors , United StatesABSTRACT
In considering ways to slow the growth in Medicare expenditures, policymakers have concluded that increasing point-of-service cost-sharing for patients will reduce demand for health services. Under the current system, Medicare beneficiaries faced with increased cost-sharing can reduce their demand for services or purchase additional private insurance. New data from the 1991 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey show that high-income persons protect themselves from out-of-pocket costs by purchasing private supplemental insurance. Surprisingly, the data also reveal that many low-income persons also purchase private insurance, demonstrating that the elderly--whatever their income level--consider supplementary insurance more of a necessity than a luxury. Thus, it appears that increased beneficiary cost-sharing would have a limited effect on Medicare spending growth.
Subject(s)
Cost Sharing/trends , Health Expenditures/trends , Insurance, Medigap/statistics & numerical data , Medicare/statistics & numerical data , Aged , Data Collection , Forecasting , Health Expenditures/statistics & numerical data , Health Services Needs and Demand/economics , Health Services Needs and Demand/trends , Humans , Income/statistics & numerical data , Insurance, Medigap/economics , United StatesABSTRACT
This article shows the supplemental insurance distribution and Medicare spending per capita by insurance status for elderly persons in 1991. The data are from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and Medicare bill records. Persons with Medicare only are a fairly small share of the elderly (11.4 percent). About three-fourths of the Medicare elderly have some form of private insurance. The share with Medicaid is 11.9 percent, which has increased recently as qualified Medicare beneficiaries (QMBs) started to receive partial Medicaid benefits. In general, Medicare per capita spending levels increase as supplemental insurance comes closer to first dollar coverage. When the data were recalculated to control for differences in reported health status between the insurance groups, essentially the same spending differences were observed.