The Impact of Medicare Coverage on Downstream Financial Outcomes for Adults Who Undergo Surgery

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of gaining access to Medicare on key financial outcomes for surgical patients. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Surgical care poses a significant financial burden, especially among patients with insufficient financial risk protection. Medicare may mitigate the risk of these adverse circumstances, but the impact of Medicare eligibility on surgical patients remains poorly understood. METHODS: Regression discontinuity analysis of national, cross-sectional survey and cost data from the 2008–2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Patients were between the ages of 57–72 with surgery in the past 12 months. The primary outcomes were the presence of medical debt, delay/deferment of care due to cost, total annual out-of-pocket (OOP) costs, and experiencing catastrophic health expenditures (CHE). RESULTS: Among 45,982,243 NHIS patients, Medicare eligibility was associated with a 6.6 percentage-point decrease (95%CI: −9.0% to −4.3) in being uninsured (>99% relative reduction), 7.6 percentage-point decrease (24% relative reduction) in having medical debt (95%CI: −14.1% to −1.1%), and 4.9 percentage-point decrease (95%CI: −9.4% to −0.4%) in deferrals/delays in medical care due to cost (28% relative reduction). Among 33,084,967 MEPS patients, annual OOP spending decreased by $1,199 per patient (95%CI: −$1,633 to −$765), a 33% relative reduction, and CHE decreased by 7.3 percentage points (95%CI: −13.6% to −0.1%), a 55% relative reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Medicare may reduce the economic burden of healthcare spending and delays in care for older adult surgical patients. These findings have important implications for policy discussions regarding changing insurance eligibility thresholds for the older adult population.