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January 2, 2008Health of Previously Uninsured Adults After Acquiring Medicare Coverage |
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From The Commonwealth Fund: Health care coverage leads to dramatic improvement in health trends for previously uninsured older individuals, particularly those with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A team of Harvard Medical School researchers assessed the effect of acquiring Medicare coverage on the health of previously uninsured adults. In the article, "Health of Previously Uninsured Adults After Acquiring Medicare Coverage" (Journal of the American Medical Association, Dec. 26, 2007), J. Michael McWilliams, M.D., and his colleagues present the strongest evidence to date that health improves significantly when people gain health insurance. For example, for every 100 uninsured adults with heart disease or diabetes before age 65, the researchers found that with Medicare coverage they had 10 fewer major cardiac complications, such as heart attack or heart failure, than would be expected by age 72. The research team assessed data from the Health and Retirement Study for 7,233 participants, all of whom entered the study in 1992 when they were at least age 55. Using comprehensive self-reported health measures to assess overall general health, mobility, agility, pain, depression, and cardiovascular outcomes, the team collected survey data every two years from participants between 1992 and 2004. They also calculated a summary score by adding these components. Of the participants, 5,006 were continuously insured, while 2,227 were either persistently or intermittently uninsured until they qualified for Medicare at age 65. "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.
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