How Does the Type of Medicare Coverage Affect the Disabled Under-65 Population?

A substantial portion of the costs associated with, and the value to beneficiaries of, Social Security Disability Insurance is Medicare eligibility. However, the exact nature of this eligibility can vary from state-to-state: Medigap, although standardized and federally required to be offered to 65-and-over Medicare beneficiaries, is left to states to regulate with regard to the under-65 SSDI population, generating substantial cross-state variation; also, Medicare Advantage plan availability and generosity differs across counties, with additional variation in MA Special Needs Plans, which can cover a variable range of chronic conditions. This project thoroughly documents the variation in availability and generosity of these components of Medicare eligibility for the SSDI population. Furthermore, it exploits this current and historical geographic variation to examine the how different types of Medicare benefits affect health care utilization, health status, and earnings of SSDI recipients. In addition to these overall effects, we estimate separate effects by demographic, health, and economic subgroups. Our findings provide insight as to the importance of the generosity and structure of Medicare coverage for the health and work capacity of the SSDI population.