Health insurance coverage among recently entitled disability insurance beneficiaries: findings from the new beneficiary survey.

This article examines health insurance coverage among a group of newly entitled disability insurance beneficiaries. Although only 50 percent of the beneficiaries had been entitled to disability benefits long enough to be eligible for Medicare coverage, a full 86 percent of them had some type of health coverage. Excluding coverage by Medicare, nearly 75 percent of the sample had coverage under other plans. Fifty-three percent of the newly entitled beneficiaries had coverage from sources other than Medicaid or programs provided by the military (such as, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniform Services (CHAMPUS) or the Veterans’ Administration). Medicaid coverage was available for 16 percent of these beneficiaries and CHAMPUS (military) covered less than 12 percent. Married individuals with employed spouses were most likely to have health insurance coverage, particularly from private sources. Single individuals were more than twice as likely to be covered by Medicaid. A demand model is used to examine factors that determine whether or not an individual is covered by a health care program other than Medicare, Medicaid, and CHAMPUS (presumably private sources of health insurance). The analysis indicates that coverage under one of the government plans reduces the likelihood that an individual would have coverage under “other” health insurance. In contrast, higher household income was associated with a greater likelihood that the beneficiary would be covered by “other” health insurance.