The Impact of Private Long-Term Care Insurance Benefits on Selected Medicare Services

The purpose of this analysis is to gain a better understanding of how having a private LTC insurance policy interacts with and affects the use of Medicare financed home health, skilled nursing and inpatient services. The authors used Medicare claims data and linked it to a sample of 578 community-based disabled elders receiving benefits under their LTC insurance policies. The sample of claimants, who comprised the 2000 LTC Insurance Panel, was developed for an ASPE-sponsored study completed in 2000. By linking Medicare claims data to these individuals, the authors were able to examine the relationship between LTC and acute or post-acute care service utilization in the year prior to and after the time when private insurance benefits were paid. Comparisons were made of Medicare use and expenditures to a sample of 1,349 disabled non-insured community residents in the general population. Information about this sample is derived from the 1994 National Long-Term Care Survey. [33 PDF pages]