How Has Medicare Spending Changed During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Commonwealth Fund April 12, 2021
Arnav Shah, Aimee Cicchiello, Stacey Y. Cao, Sarah Grace, Gretchen Jacobson, Eric C. Schneider

Toplines

Traditional Medicare spending dropped sharply during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, then returned to — but did not surpass — prepandemic levels

Approximately one in five Medicare beneficiaries went without some type of non-COVID-19 care during the pandemic’s first months, but it’s not known how that may have affected their health

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered patient care in multiple ways, including a disruption in face-to-face office visits and a decline in the volume of ambulatory care visits. Early on, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Congress enacted payment changes, including expanded coverage of telemedicine services, to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries were able to access needed care. Understanding how beneficiaries’ health care spending changed...

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