A recent KFF report, “Overall Satisfaction with Medicare is High, But Beneficiaries Under Age 65 With Disabilities Experience More Insurance Problems Than Older Beneficiaries,” found that Medicare beneficiaries are overwhelmingly satisfied with the Medicare program, though people under age 65 with disabilities face more challenges with the program than the over 65 Medicare population. The report found that beneficiaries in Medicare generally did not face problems with access to care, but those under 65 faced more challenges than the over 65 population. While the survey demonstrates broad support for the program overall, access to care and affordability concerns remain and must be addressed, especially for the under 65 Medicare population.
Some key points from the report:
- People with Medicare are more satisfied with their health insurance coverage than adults with other types of insurance, but among people with Medicare, those under age 65 with disabilities are less likely than those age 65 or older to give positive ratings to the overall performance of their insurance coverage 79% compared to 92%. Those are still very high numbers of support for the program, especially for the over 65 group.
- Beneficiaries under age 65 with disabilities who reported problems with health insurance that led to difficulty accessing care, such as getting recommended treatment (24%) compared to 6% for the over 65 population only; or experienced significant delays in receiving medical care or treatment (21%), compared to 6% For the over 65 population only.
- Medicare beneficiaries under 65 with disabilities were more likely to experience difficulty with the health insurance enrollment process including figuring out if they qualify for financial assistance, with 30% for under 65 compared to 11% for other over 65 group experiencing difficulties.
November 2, 2023 – K. Kertesz