Medicaid

The purpose of this paper was to provide a synthesis and critique of current research on Medicaid spenddown. The primary goal was to ask what these studies could tell us about the extent to which persons incurred catastrophic expenses in nursing homes. A corollary goal was to examine how the data and research methods used in the various studies affected the "results" reported.

The project examined how states have used Medicaid's Personal Care Services Optional Benefit (also called the PC Option), assessed whether coverage regulations for these services be revised, and discussed the ways in which the program might affect public debate about the expansion of public funding for long-term care.

This paper was requested as part of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee on National Statistics Panel to Evaluate the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). SIPP is sponsored by the Bureau of the Census and has been an ongoing longitudinal survey of the civilian non-institutionalized population since 1983.

The Congress, HHS, and other federal agencies have expressed considerable interest in the adequacy of current programs and policies affecting severely disabled children, particularly those who are technology dependent and whose health and medical care place catastrophic financing and caregiving burdens on their families.

This report analyzes the Medicaid experience of children and young adults with total annual Medicaid claims of $25,000 or more in California, Georgia, Michigan and Tennessee in order to better understand service utilization patterns and how they vary by age and other characteristics.

This report analyzed the Medicaid experience of children in California who had at least $25,000 in claims in 1983. The study analyzed their enrollment in claims experience over the period 1980-1986 in order to determine whether these children remain high cost over a number of years, and whether their eligibility changes over time. [35 PDF pages]

This report analyzed the 1984 Medicaid experience of all children passing the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability test in California, Georgia, and Michigan to determine the enrollment, utilization, and expenditure patterns of these children. The study estimated the proportion of Medicaid expenditures attributable to SSI-related disabled children. [33 PDF pages]

This paper presents results of a descriptive analysis of the effects of nursing home use of Medicaid eligibility status. Data from the 1982 and 1984 National Long-Term Care Surveys were used to "track" a cohort of disabled elderly persons residing in the community in 1982 over the following two years.