Multiple sources of Medicare supplementary insurance.

Estimates from the National Medical Expenditure Survey imply that in 1987 only two-thirds of elderly Medicare beneficiaries held the amount and type of insurance that is generally recommended to supplement Medicare, namely, 57.7% with private hospital/medical insurance from one source and 6.6% with only Medicaid. Of the remainder, 19.8% had more than one source of private insurance; slightly more than 1% had one source of extra-cash or disease-specific insurance as their only supplementary coverage; and 12.9% had no supplementary coverage at all. In addition, more than 500,000 Medicaid enrollees had purchased private insurance, despite the comprehensive coverage offered by Medicaid. Although the issue of multiple coverage has been dramatized by stories of poor, very elderly persons who have purchased numerous Medigap plans, beneficiaries who purchase coverage from more than one source are likely to be relatively young, more highly educated, and financially better off.