The Faces of Medicare


The Medicare beneficiary population is often described in homogenous terms, yet those covered by the program vary significantly in terms of their health, income, supplemental insurance status, and medical service use. The Faces of Medicare profiles the following six groups within the Medicare population, providing basic information, trends and data:

• Healthy retirees, who represent less than 10 percent of the total Medicare population, but sometimes are portrayed as typical of all seniors,
• Under-65 disabled beneficiaries, whose disproportionately high rates of health and cognitive problems are compounded by low incomes,
• Racial and ethnic minority beneficiaries, who by 2025 will account for one in three Medicare beneficiaries,
• Beneficiaries with cognitive impairments, now nearly one in four Medicare beneficiaries, who face unique challenges navigating the health care system,
• Low-income elderly and disabled, who remain among the most vulnerable,
• Women, who constitute over 56 percent of Medicare beneficiaries but nearly 70 percent of Medicare's poor.

• Fact Sheet: About The Faces of Medicare 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Cognitively Impaired 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Healthy Retirees 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Low Income 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Medicare and Women 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Minority Americans 
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The Faces of Medicare - Under 65 Disabled