Our Health Policy Matters

You would expect Medicare to spend about the same for a man with heart, lung, or kidney disease as it does for a woman.  And if you looked at the actual numbers, you would not be surprised.  On average, it does.  So why does Medicare spend so much more on men when you couple these disease with depression? That is a question that deserves an answer. The startling numbers, which show just how wide the disparity is, are in the chart accompanying this column.  They are very similar to some others that I shared in my column last week . They all come from the 2010 CMS Medicare public use data files , the most recent ones available.  The CMS file includes information on all 48 million Medicare recipients.  Last week, I wrote that men with depression in the 65-69 year old age group enjoyed an 11% Medicare spending advantage over women in the same age group.  (The men were those on Medicare only, not both Medicare and Medicaid.)  I als...

You would expect Medicare to spend about the same for a man with heart, lung, or kidney disease as it does for a woman.  And if you looked at the actual numbers, you would not be surprised.  On average, it does.  So why does Medicare spend so much more on men when you couple these disease with depression? That is a question that deserves an answer. The startling numbers, which show just how wide the disparity is, are in the chart accompanying this column.  They are very similar to some others that I shared in my column last week . They all come from the 2010 CMS Medicare public use data files , the most recent ones available.  The CMS file includes information on all 48 million Medicare recipients.  Last week, I wrote that men with depression in the 65-69 year old age group enjoyed an 11% Medicare spending advantage over women in the same age group.  (The men were those on Medicare only, not both Medicare and Medicaid.)  I als...