Health Care Spending, Use, and Financial Hardship Among Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage Enrollees With Mental Health Symptoms.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We examined the differences in health care spending and utilization, and financial hardship between Traditional Medicare (TM) and Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees with mental health symptoms.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Participants

We identified Medicare beneficiaries with mental health symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and the Kessler-6 Psychological Distress Scale in the 2015-2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Measurements

Outcomes included health care spending and utilization (both general and mental health services), and financial hardship. The primary independent variable was MA enrollment.

Results

MA enrollees with mental health symptoms were 2.3 percentage points (95% CI: -3.4, -1.2; relative difference: 16.1%) le

SUBMITTER: Park S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12854063 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature