Search is Powered by Google
Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP News

Uninsured Who Then Get Medicare Coverage Have Improved Health

rate icon Featured Article
Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging;  Cardiovascular / Cardiology;  Diabetes
Article Date: 26 Dec 2007 - 9:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:not yet rated

Health Professional:5 stars

5 (2 votes)

Article Opinions: 0 posts

People who were previously uninsured and then got Medicare coverage enjoyed better health, particularly people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, says an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), December 26th issue.

The authors explain "Uninsured near-elderly adults, particularly those with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, experience worse health outcomes and use more health services as Medicare beneficiaries after age 65 years than insured near-elderly adults. Because chronic diseases are prevalent and insurance coverage is often unaffordable for older uninsured adults, the impact of near-universal Medicare coverage at age 65 years on the health of previously uninsured adults may be substantial."

J. Michael McWilliams, M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and team examined the association of receiving Medicare coverage at 65 with trends in self-reported health outcomes for people aged 55-72 years for adults who were previously uninsured, particularly people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They assessed survey data, gathered from 1992 to 2004, from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, comprising 5,006 adults who were always insured and 2,227 adults who were persistently or occasionally uninsured from 55 to 64 years of age.

The researchers compared changes in health trends for adults who were previously uninsured and insured after they received Medicare coverage at 65 years of age. The survey covered general health, change in general health, mobility, agility, pain, depression, a summary of these, as well as adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

The authors write that before 65 years of age summary health scores got worse at a greater rate for uninsured adults, compared to insured adults - they were substantially worse at 65 years of age. Previously uninsured adults reported substantially improved health trends after 65 for the summary measure and several component measures, compared to previously insured adults.

The improvements for previously uninsured adults with diabetes or cardiovascular disease were significant for summary health, change in general health, mobility, agility, and adverse cardiovascular outcomes, compared to previously insured adults. However, this was not the case for depressive symptoms.

On the other hand, adults who were previously uninsured reported improvements in depressive symptoms but not in summary health or any of the other measures. By the time those in the survey reached the age of 70 the expected difference in summary health for patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes was reduced by 50% when previously uninsured and previously insured people were compared.

The researchers concluded "Our findings have important policy implications. Proposals to extend insurance coverage to uninsured near-elderly adults have been introduced in the U.S. Congress and endorsed by the American College of Physicians. Providing earlier health insurance coverage for uninsured adults, particularly those with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, may have considerable social and economic value for the United States by improving health outcomes."

"Health of Previously Uninsured Adults After Acquiring Medicare Coverage"
J. Michael McWilliams, MD; Ellen Meara, PhD; Alan M. Zaslavsky, PhD; John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP
JAMA. 2007;298(24):2886-2894.
Click here to view abstract online

Written by - Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today




Customized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Home About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Links Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Contact Us
Psychiatry Urology
Bipolar Diabetes Schizophrenia

add medical news today to your facebook

medical news gadget

Add to Google


developers
website gadget code
website news code
medical news rss feed links


MedReader RSS Reader

customize your homepage


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Governor Palin Is Pro-Life, Pro-contraception, And Pro-competition In Health Care
30 Aug 2008
Governor Sarah Palin today released the following statement to Alaskans: "It is the honor of my life to represent you as your Governor, and over the next two months I will continue to do so...


When Your Cycle Becomes a Major Headache
When Your Cycle Becomes a Major Headache

Cathy's gets as many as 12 to 15 headaches a month and they are all associated with her menstrual cycle. Migraines like hers tend to last longer and be more severe than other migraines. Figuring out what was triggering her headaches helped Cathy and her doctor come up with a successful treatment plan.

more videos are available in our health videos section.