A new paper in Health Affairs by Paul Jacobs looks at the impact of Medicare on access to affordable care. It finds that enrolling in Medicare–be it traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage–improves access and affordability of care for people turning 65. It further finds that expanding Medicare to people under 65, as President Biden and others have proposed, is likely to provide better access to affordable care than their private insurance options.
Today, people with Medicare say that they have about the same or better access to care as people with private insurance. They also do not have problems finding a new doctor. This is particularly noteworthy as people with Medicare use a lot more health care services than people under 65.
Jacobs reports that about 15 percent of people age 57 do not have a usual source of care as compared with 6.3 percent at age 72, thanks to Medicare. And, 6.3 percent of people age 64 had difficulty getting needed care because of cost as compared to 3.7 percent of people age 66.
That 2.6 percent increase in ease of getting care for people with Medicare translates to 22.1 percent more people having a usual source of care once on Medicare. And, 50.9 percent more people were able to get needed care once on Medicare. Affordability of care also improved significantly for people enrolling in Medicare. At age 66, 46 percent more people could afford to get care.
Jacobs did not find any subpopulation with worse access or affordability once enrolled in Medicare. Access and affordability of care improved for everyone. That said, white Americans and Hispanics had greater improvements to access and affordability than non-Hispanic Black Americans. White people and Hispanics also had fewer delays in care because of the cost than non-Hispanic Black Americans.
Jacobs remarks on Medicare’s great strengths as compared to private insurance. He notes that it would not have been surprising to find access issues with Medicare given that Medicare payment rates tend to be significantly lower than private insurance rates. But, people with Medicare did not have trouble finding doctors nor did they face delays getting care. He further notes that it would not have been surprising to find an increase in affordability issues given that older adults use more health care services and have lower incomes than younger adults.
Based on the study results, if the goal is to improve access and affordability of care, it would be a mistake to raise the age of Medicare eligibility, as many Republicans propose. Rather, we need to improve and expand Medicare to everyone.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Coronavirus: Why aren’t we talking about Medicare for all?
- If you want easy health care access and good quality care, you probably want traditional Medicare
- Who’s protecting older adults from financial exploitation
- Seven reasons commercial insurance cannot meet our health care needs
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
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