Yang, Y: Medicare Supplemental Insurance

The majority of Medicare beneficiaries rely on
supplemental insurance to help fill the gaps in
Medicare s benefit package and to protect themselves
from large, unanticipated health care expenses.
Although numerous studies have been conducted on
Medicare Supplemental insurance ownership, few
attempts have been made to explore the decision-
making process for purchasing Medigap. This book
examined decision factors in the dynamics of private
supplemental insurance purchases on the conceptual
framework of Bounded Rationality. The study used
Multilevel modeling to examine the time-dependent
relationship of the Medigap purchasing decision on
longitudinal data from the Asset and Health Dynamics
Among the Oldest-Old Survey (AHEAD). The study has
implications for Medicare policies that are designed
to enhance health care coverage while containing
health care costs through market competition. It is
also important for public agencies and other
entities helping the disadvantaged elderly make
informed enrollment decisions, and for furthering
empirical knowledge and research methodology on the
behavioral modeling with respect to health insurance
purchases.