Geographic Inequity in Medicare+Choice Benefits: Findings from Seven Communities

September 1, 2002

Author(s): Geraldine Dallek, Andrew Dennington, and Brian Biles, The George Washington University Medical Center.

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Overview

As a national social insurance program, Medicare was built on the premise that all beneficiaries would receive the same health care benefits no matter where they lived. The Medicare+Choice program is eroding this promise of equitable benefits because many beneficiaries have no Medicare+Choice options; in communities that do have Medicare+Choice plans, benefit offerings and cost-sharing requirements vary substantially. This report compares the 2002 benefit packages of Medicare+Choice plans in Los Angeles and New York City with the benefits of plans in five other areas—Cleveland, Houston, Long Island, N.Y., Seattle, and Tucson—in order to assess geographic inequality in benefitpackages.

Citation

Geographic Inequity in Medicare+Choice Benefits: Findings from Seven Communities, Geraldine Dallek, Andrew Dennington, and Brian Biles, The George Washington University Medical Center., The Commonwealth Fund, September 2002