Financial Management White Papers
High-Cost Medicare Beneficiaries
Overview Total Medicare spending exceeded $300 billion in 2004 and is expected to grow significantly in the coming decades. In response to those financial pressures, policymakers have considered a number of strategies for slowing the growth of Medicare spending, including increasing the share of spending paid by beneficiaries and enhancing competition in the provision of services. This paper explores an additional approach: focusing on the small group of beneficiaries that accounts for a large share of the program's spending. Possible intervention strategies would aim to reduce that spending. The paper analyzes the concentration of Medicare spending in a given year and over time using data from Medicare claims and considers illustrative methods for identifying beneficiaries who are likely to incur high future costs.
| Publisher | Congressional Budget Office | File Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date Published | May 2005 | Downloads | 3 |
| Format | White Papers | ||
| Topics | |||
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