Medicare Enrollment Increased Visits To Primary Care Providers But Not Mental Health Care Providers, 2014–21

Health Affairs January 1, 2025
Donghoon Lee, Jing Li

Abstract

Medicare enrollment increases provider visits among older adults; however, it remains unclear whether this increase is uniform across all types of providers. Using data from the 2014–21 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, we examined the effect of Medicare enrollment on office and outpatient visits across providers, using a regression discontinuity design. We found that Medicare enrollment at age sixty-five led to a 14 percent increase in visits to primary care providers and a 31...

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