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Activity Number:
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152
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Type:
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Topic Contributed
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Date/Time:
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Monday, August 3, 2009 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
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Sponsor:
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Section on Government Statistics
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| Abstract - #303865 |
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Title:
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Are Expenditures Higher for Those Entering Medicare at Age 65 Having Been Previously Uninsured?
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Author(s):
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Sandra L. Decker*+ and Jalpa A. Doshi and Amy E. Knaup and Daniel E. Polsky
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Companies:
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National Center for Health Statistics and University of Pennsylvania and University of Maryland and University of Pennsylvania
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Address:
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3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, MD, 20782,
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Keywords:
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Medicare ; insurance ; expenditures
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Abstract:
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Using the National Health Interview Survey linked to Medicare records, we investigated whether use of Medicare services beginning at age 65 is related to health insurance status before age 65. We found that the previously uninsured were less likely than the previously privately insured to have positive Medicare expenditures. Among those with positive expenditures, expenditures were more than one-third higher among the previously uninsured compared to others. Compared to others, the uninsured had more emergency room and inpatient though fewer physician visits. In a companion analysis using the Health and Retirement Study, results indicated that different patterns of Medicare service use between the previously insured and uninsured were not due to differences in supplementary insurance coverage. Future research should analyze reasons for these different patterns of service use.
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