The Gerontologist, Vol 30, Issue 3 308-315, Copyright © 1990 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Helping Medicare beneficiaries choose health insurance: the illness episode approach

S Sofaer, BN Davidson, RD Goodman, R Grier, E Kenney, N Monk and A Ross
School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles 90024- 1772.

Lacking objective, comprehensible information about health care coverage options, Medicare beneficiaries rarely understand the consequences of alternative purchasing decisions. We describe the Illness Episode Approach, a method providing information on Medicare itself, Medigap policies, and HMOs. The method presents calculations of seniors' out-of-pocket costs under different insurance options for 13 common illnesses.