Department of Health and Human Services
Administration on Aging

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Statistics

Health Insurance Coverage

In 2004, almost all (96%) non-institutionalized persons 65+ were covered by Medicare. Medicare covers mostly acute care services and requires beneficiaries to pay part of the cost, leaving about half of health spending to be covered by other sources. About 61% had some type of private health insurance. Over 7% had military-based health insurance and 9% of the non-institutionalized elderly were covered by Medicaid. Less than 1% did not have coverage of some kind. Over 87% of non-institutionalized Medicare beneficiaries in 2002 had some type of supplementary coverage. However, among Medicare beneficiaries residing in nursing homes, almost 58% were covered by Medicaid in 2001.

Figure 8:

Note: Figure 8 data is for the non-institutionalized elderly. A person can be represented in more than one category.

(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. Based on Detailed Tables on Health Insurance Coverage, U.S. Bureau of the Census web site. Medicare beneficiary data is from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey)

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