Medicare Advantage plan choice among older adults living with dementia

About one-third Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which are designed to provide care more efficiently than traditional fee-for-service Medicare through better care coordination and additional preventive and nonmedical services. However, the proliferation of MA plans might overwhelm older adults with impaired decision-making capabilities, and particularly those living with dementia. This study will use the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study linked with Medicare claims data and publicly available MA plan data to examine the characteristics of MA plans in which older adults with dementia are enrolled, as well as factors associated with their enrollment and disenrollment of MA plans. This study might have critical policy applications in improving health insurance plan choices and health care delivery for older adults with dementia.