Study Observes Higher MA-to-FFS Switching Among Nonwhite, Disabled Enrollees

Previous research has suggested that disabled adults who rely on services such as home health and nursing home care are more likely to switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional, fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. Now, a new study appearing in Health Affairs confirms researchers’ assumptions that such switching is more prevalent among MA beneficiaries who are nonwhite and/or from vulnerable sociodemographic groups.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the University of California San Francisco examined five years of data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, a longitudinal, nationally representative survey of aging, to assess switching between MA and traditional Medicare 12 months before and after the onset of a disability. The study asked respondents to identify the specific month when they began requiring help with activities of daily living, and includes characteristics such as age, race, region and marital status.

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Lauren Flynn Kelly

Lauren Flynn Kelly Managing Editor, Radar on Medicare Advantage

Lauren has been covering health business issues, including drug benefits and specialty pharmacy, for more than a decade. She served as editor of Drug Benefit News (the predecessor to Radar on Drug Benefits) from 2004 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2016, and now manages Radar on Medicare Advantage. Lauren graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in English.

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