A decade of experience for high-needs beneficiaries under Medicare Advantage

To describe the association between longitudinal enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) and utilization, access, quality of care, and health outcomes for beneficiaries with complex health needs.

Beneficiary characteristics, enrollment, and outcomes data from the 2004-2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Using the HRS panel structure, we identified beneficiaries consistently reporting high needs as well as enrollment in MA versus traditional Medicare (TM). We first evaluated a robust set of beneficiary characteristics to identify those that distinguish beneficiaries who consistently enrolled in MA versus TM. We then described adjusted differences in outcomes between high-needs beneficiaries who consistently enrolled in MA versus TM.

Among high-needs beneficiaries, there was a modest amount of favorable selection into MA based on health. Controlling for several characteristics, MA enrollees used less care (with a 6.6 percentage point (pp) lower probability of hospitalization, 4.7 fewer physician visits, and a 5.1 pp lower probability of using home health care), had a 4.1 pp greater probability of being unable to afford their care, and had a 5.7 pp lower probability of reporting that they were very satisfied with their care. Compared to associations between MA and outcomes for high-needs beneficiaries, for non-high-needs beneficiaries MA enrollment was associated with smaller decreases in utilization and no statistically significant difference in the inability to afford care.

Our descriptive findings raise the possibility that high-needs beneficiaries may experience unique challenges in MA compared to their non-high-needs counterparts.