TABLE 1.

Demographic and Medicare enrollment characteristics of deceased Medicare beneficiaries with a FBLP primary payer claim and all deceased Medicare beneficiaries, 1999–2016

Characteristics	Deceased FBLP primary payer beneficiaries		Deceased Medicare beneficiaries
	n = 22,242	Percent	n = 35,893,251a	Percent
Age group at death (years)
18–44	57	0.3	351,412	1.0
45–64	896	4.0	2,576,715	7.2
65–74	2689	12.1	7,273,275	20.3
75–84	8049	36.2	11,642,008	32.5
85+	10,551	47.4	14,035,739	39.1
Sex
Male	20,822	93.6	16,720,988	46.6
Female	1,420	6.4	19,158,781	53.4
Race/ethnic originb
White	21,045	94.6	30,566,629	85.2
Black	809	3.6	3,552,005	9.9
Other	355	1.6	1,642,070	4.6
Unknown	33	0.2	119,133	0.3
NDI state of death
Pennsylvania	5666	25.5	1,924,126	5.4
West Virginia	4146	18.6	307,605	0.9
Kentucky	3548	16.0	590,953	1.7
Virginia	2376	10.7	830,260	2.3
Other states	6506	29.3	32,226,893	89.8
Medicare coverage (years)
0–10	1797	8.1	9,178,358	25.6
11–20	5812	26.1	12,755,539	35.6
21–30	10,829	48.7	11,488,580	32.0
31+	3804	17.1	2,457,294	6.9
Original entitlement reason
Aged ≥65 years	10,940	49.2	29,023,133	80.9
Disability	11,134	50.1	6,425,859	17.9
End stage renal	168	0.8	430,845	1.2
disease
Current entitlement reasonc
Aged ≥65 years	21,200	95.3	32,770,510	91.3
Disability	882	4.0	2,735,954	7.6
End stage renal disease	155	0.7	373,373	1.0

Abbreviations: FBLP, Federal Black Lung Benefits Program; NDI, National Death Index.

^aOf 35,893,251 Medicare beneficiaries from 1999–2016 with NDI segment data, master beneficiary summary file Base segment data from the year of a beneficiary's death were available for 35,879,837 beneficiaries. Age group at death was missing for 688, sex was unknown for 68, and Medicare coverage years was missing for 66.

^bOther race/ethnic origin included Asian, Hispanic, North American Native, and other.

^cCurrent entitlement reason was missing for five beneficiaries the year of their death.