For this study, Huguet and colleagues examined electronic health record data for more than 45,000 patients who became eligible for Medicare between 2014 and 2019. The records were for patient encounters at community health centers, which provide care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, and largely serve people of limited financial means.
Their deep dive into the data determined it was more common for Hispanic Americans to lose insurance coverage at 65. Medicare requires its participants to be either U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents, placing government insurance out of reach for older adults who are undocumented immigrants. Further, patients with low incomes may not be able to afford Medicare premiums.
Medicare Enrollment Linked to Increased Chronic Health Conditions
About 86% of the study’s patients had two or more chronic health conditions after they turned 65, compared with 77% beforehand. Patients who had been uninsured and then obtained insurance through Medicare were diagnosed with more new chronic conditions than patients who had insurance before enrolling in Medicare.
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“It’s likely these patients unknowingly had chronic conditions for beforehand,” Huguet said. “Medicare enables older Americans to receive the essential health care that they need. However, having access to health care earlier in life can also prevent conditions from developing or getting worse as we age.”
Huguet and her colleagues hope their findings will encourage policymakers to better support aging Americans by improving their access to health care overall, as well as specifically to improve preventive care access. They also hope it will inspire community health centers to integrate more geriatric-focused care in their operations.
Data for this study was provided by the ADVANCE Clinical Research Network, which is led by OCHIN, and is supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (contract RI-OCHIN-01-MC).
Source: Eurekalert
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