Table 1.
Basic Characteristics of Elderly Medicare Health Plan Members, by Race/Ethnicity: The Medicare Health Outcomes Survey, 2012 (n = 236,289)
| Percent or Mean | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White n = 176,994 (74.9%) |
Hispanic n = 20,553 (8.7%) |
Black n = 22,729 (9.6%) |
American Indian/Alaskan Native n = 1054 (0.5%) |
Asian n = 8228 (3.5%) |
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander n = 729 (0.3%) |
Multiracial n = 6002 (2.5%) |
|
| Sociodemographics | |||||||
| Mean age in yearsa (age) | 74.8 | 73.7 | 73.9 | 74.2 | 74.7 | 73.1 | 74.0 |
| Female a | 57.4 | 58.9 | 66.4 | 59.8 | 53.3 | 60.6 | 60.3 |
| Married a | 57.5 | 48.4 | 32.4 | 44.0 | 63.9 | 45.7 | 46.7 |
| Education ≥some college a | 46.6 | 20.2 | 27.1 | 30.4 | 47.7 | 31.0 | 32.6 |
| Medicaid eligible a | 12.3 | 47.1 | 38.8 | 33.8 | 36.8 | 33.9 | 27.3 |
| Home owner a | 74.4 | 46.8 | 48.7 | 56.2 | 46.1 | 44.7 | 60.3 |
| Basic Health Characteristics | |||||||
| Mean VR-12 PCS Score a | 39.7 | 37.4 | 36.8 | 36.2 | 40.5 | 39.5 | 35.8 |
| Mean VR-12 MCS Score a | 52.7 | 47.6 | 49.3 | 48.8 | 50.0 | 49.6 | 49.8 |
| Mean number of ADL impairments a | 0.9 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| Mean number of chronic conditions a | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| Enrollment Duration in 2012 | |||||||
| Enrolled more than 1 yeara | 70.2 | 61.3 | 64.5 | 66.9 | 64.2 | 62.1 | 64.7 |
| Census Region | |||||||
| Northeast a | 6.9 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 5.5 |
| Mid-Atlantic a | 13.8 | 16.5 | 16.8 | 10.9 | 10.3 | 4.1 | 10.9 |
| East North Central a | 16.7 | 3.5 | 13.4 | 9.7 | 4.0 | 1.7 | 11.7 |
| West North Central a | 9.8 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 8.8 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 6.9 |
| South Atlantic a | 15.8 | 15.6 | 34.6 | 15.1 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 20.1 |
| East South Central a | 4.2 | 0.6 | 7.2 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 5.7 |
| West South Central a | 7.5 | 16.2 | 13.1 | 15.2 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 12.8 |
| Mountain a | 13.2 | 21.4 | 3.3 | 18.1 | 6.0 | 7.8 | 10.0 |
| Pacific a | 12.1 | 20.8 | 3.9 | 14.8 | 60.5 | 75.3 | 16.5 |
ADL impairments indicates having any of 6 activities of daily living impairments (bathing, dressing, eating, getting in/out of chairs, walking, toileting); chronic conditions indicates having any of 14 conditions (hypertension, angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, heart attack, other heart condition, stroke, respiratory conditions, inflammatory bowel disease, hip/knee arthritis, hand/wrist arthritis, osteoporosis, sciatica, diabetes, and any cancer); VR-12 PCS and MCS indicate the Veterans-RAND 12-Item Short Form Survey physical and mental component summary scores (0–100 scale, 0 representing worst health.
Census region refers to the region to which an individual belongs, from a total of 9 regions: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT), Mid-Atlantic (NJ, N Y, PA), East North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI), West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD), South Atlantic (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV), East South Central (AL, KY, MS, TN), West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX), Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY), and Pacific (AK, CA, HI, WA, OR).
Differences among racial/ethnic groups are statistically significant at P <.003.