An Analysis of Insurance Dynamics Among the Near Elderly, with Options for Reform

Commonwealth Fund
05/01/99 - 09/30/00

Pamela Farley Short, Director, Center for Health Policy Research and Professor of Health Policy and Administration
Dennis Shea, Professor of Health Policy and Administration

In this project, changes in the health insurance of Americans approaching retirement and eligibility for Social Security and Medicare were described and analyzed. The picture of health insurance dynamics among the near elderly developed in this project complements cross-sectional estimates from a health insurance survey of older Americans that The Commonwealth Fund fielded in the fall of 1999. Drawing on the data from both sources, policy options for protecting and expanding coverage during the transition to Medicare were identified and evaluated.

Related Publications

Shea, D.G., P.F. Short and M.P. Powell (2001). "Betwixt and Between: Targeting Coverage Reforms to Those Approaching Medicare." Health Affairs. 20(1):219-230. |Abstract|

Short, P.F., D.G. Shea and M.P. Powell (2003). "Health Insurance for Americans Approaching Age Sixty-Five: An Analysis of Options for Incremental Reform." Journal of Health Policy, Politics and Law. 28(1):41-76.

Short, P.F., D.G. Shea and M.P. Powell (2001). "A Workable Solution for the Pre-Medicare Population." Inquiry. 38(2):214-224. |Abstract|