Where the government draws the line for Medicaid coverage leaves out many older Americans who may need help paying for medical and long-term care bills – new research
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.The big ideaBased on a study we conducted, we determined that if strict eligibility rules for Medicaid were changed to help cover such people, from 700,000 to 11.5 million people over 65 would be newly eligible for the program.
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
- Based on a study we conducted, we determined that if strict eligibility rules for Medicaid were changed to help cover such people, from 700,000 to 11.5 million people over 65 would be newly eligible for the program.
- Depending on which rules were changed, we would expect to see one of the following scenarios:
Unless the government adopted the Elder Index approach, most of the additional enrollees in these scenarios would have poor health and few financial assets.
Why it matters
- Low-income adults who are excluded from Medicaid under existing criteria also face high health care costs that contribute to their financial insecurity.
- Researchers found that 1 in 5 Americans over 65 skipped, delayed or used less medical care or drugs because of financial constraints.
- Increasing the number of low-income older people with both Medicaid and Medicare coverage would reduce their out-of-pocket health spending.
What still isn’t known
- Increasing the number of older people with Medicaid coverage would require more government funding, although the degree of extra spending would depend on which rules the government would change.
- Accurately estimating these costs and the potential benefits for families and communities that would come from these changes would require additional research.