Bob Herman Nov 16, 2019
Data: Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
Retirement in
America is growing less secure, physically and financially, given the
omnipresent threat and cost of serious illness or disease.
Why it
matters: Qualifying for Medicare does not guarantee that older adults
will skirt potentially ruinous medical bills. Millions of seniors have also
come to rely on the taxpayer-funded program for lower income people — Medicaid
— and there's no indication that will slow down.
- "I
can't tell you how many times people talk about how unaffordable the costs
are, how it wipes away life savings in short order," said Tricia
Neuman, a Medicare policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
By the numbers: More
than 12 million Americans —
most of them over 65 — have both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
- That
represents about one-fifth of all Medicare enrollees, a percentage that
has stayed stable over time even as more baby boomers enter the program.
- This
low-income population has some of the most expensive health care
conditions and disabilities — averaging roughly $30,000 in
annual spending per person, or double the average Medicare enrollee.
Between the
lines: Some people who age into Medicare have very few assets and
income, and therefore automatically qualify for Medicaid. But retirees who
consider themselves middle-class increasingly
have to resort to Medicaid because the costs of things like dementia or nursing
home care consume their entire nest egg.
- "The
real challenges are for people who are just above the Medicaid eligibility
level," Neuman said. "They're really left to fend for
themselves."
What to
watch: The federal government has been experimenting with
ways to coordinate care better for this population, but that's a reaction to
seniors falling into poverty due to health care costs.
- Unless
policymakers address the high and rising costs of care, more retirees and
their families will have to depend on both Medicare and Medicaid.
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