Pent-up Demand and the Discovery of New Health Conditions after Medicare Enrollment

Jody Schimmel, Northeastern University

Recent evidence shows that those who obtain insurance coverage via Medicare at age 65 experience increases in the utilization of certain types of preventive and curative care that are larger than those experiences by the previously insured. Pent-up demand may lead to a “discovery effect” where new conditions are diagnosed once better access to medical care is available. Here, Cox models are used on a sample of respondents from the HRS to assess the differential rate of new diagnoses of chronic conditions upon enrolling on Medicare. Results indicate a higher rate of increase in the diagnosis of most chronic conditions among the previously uninsured relative to the insured upon obtaining Medicare coverage. Because failing to obtain a timely diagnosis can lead to improper disease management and poorer health outcomes, these results suggest that access to care for the uninsured prior to age 65 may improve health trajectories of Medicare recipients.