Abstract
IMPORTANCE: Medicare enrollees with low income report challenges affording out-of-pocket costs for health care. Although the Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) were established to provide financial support, recent patterns in program take-up are understudied. OBJECTIVES: To provide national and state-level estimates of take-up of the MSPs from 2018 to 2020 and describe the profile of enrolled and unenrolled individuals eligible for the MSPs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional analysis used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries. Respondents from 2018 to 2020 who completed the income and assets questionnaire, which allowed assessment of MSP eligibility, were analyzed. Data were analyzed in July 2024. EXPOSURES: Eligibility for the MSPs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The take-up rate of the MSPs, defined as the proportion of eligible beneficiaries enrolled in the program. The MCBS survey weights were applied to create a subsample that was nationally representative of the community-dwelling Medicare population. RESULTS: The primary sample included 26 240 respondent-year observations, representing 179 221 355 beneficiary-years (14.0% [95% CI, 13.4%-14.5%] of respondents were <65 years, 55.1% [95% CI, 54.1%-56.0%] were female, and 37.7% [95% CI, 36.0%-39.4%] had a high school education or lower). A total of 20.9% (95% CI, 19.8%-22.0%) of the primary sample was eligible for the MSPs. Of those eligible, 56.7% (95% CI, 54.5%-59.0%) were enrolled. Take-up rates varied widely across states, ranging from 41.5% (95% CI, 25.7%-57.3%) in Ohio to 72.9% (95% CI, 67.6%-78.2%) in California. Take-up among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries was higher than among those in traditional Medicare (61.3% vs 52.9%; difference, 8.4 percentage points [pp] [95% CI, 3.5-13.2 pp]). Compared with eligible beneficiaries who were not enrolled, enrolled individuals had greater economic insecurity, including being 30.0 pp (95% CI, 25.4-34.6 pp) more likely to report income below 100% of the federal poverty level and 16.4 pp (95% CI, 13.2-19.6 pp) more likely to report assets less than $3000. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This cross-sectional study of Medicare beneficiaries suggests that MSP take-up remains incomplete and varied across states despite policy efforts. A policy to encourage participation in the MSPs among eligible populations that target less socially and financially vulnerable-although still with low income and eligible for the MSPs-individuals may be more likely to be associated with gains in the MSP take-up.