Medicare and Social Security
Description:
Medicare has two programs: one for the disabled and another for those 65 or older. The reported number of Medicare participants include individuals enrolled in either hospital insurance (part A) or supplementary medical insurance (part B).
The numbers of Medicare enrollees age 65 or older are presented on Arizona Indicators for the United States, Arizona, and the 15 Arizona counties for the years since 2004. Older data by age do not exist; counts are slow to be released. The figures are as of July 1.
Social Security has three programs: old age (retirement), survivors, and disability insurance. In addition to the number enrolled in each of these programs, the number of Social Security participants 65 or older is reported.
The numbers of Social Security recipients age 65 or older are presented on Arizona Indicators for the United States, Arizona, and the 15 Arizona counties for the years since 1999. The figures are as of December. The data are updated the following September.
The numbers of people age 65 or older enrolled in Medicare and Social Security provide proxies for the number of residents 65 or older. Relative to the decennial census count, the interpolated number of Social Security participants age 65 or older in Arizona on April 1 was only 84.6 percent in 2000 and 83.5 percent in 2010.
Data Source:
For Medicare: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareEnrpts/.For Social Security: U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/.
Data Quality Comments:
If the Medicare and Social Security programs were equally capturing the number of residents 65 or older, the Social Security figures in any year would be higher than the Medicare figures because of the later date in each year for which a Social Security count is provided. However, the number of Medicare recipients is larger, suggesting that more individuals age 65 or older sign up for Medicare than receive Social Security benefits.
While the Medicare count appears to be closer to the number of residents 65 or older, the Medicare figures change more erratically from year to year than do the Social Security counts. For any year, inconsistencies exist in the number enrolled in Medicare from report to report issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Thus, the Social Security series, in addition to being more up to date, is the better indicator of the change in the number of people age 65 or older.
Medicare Recipients Age 65 or Older, Percent Change
Visualization Notes:
The percent change in the number of Medicare recipients age 65 or older has been somewhat erratic in the limited number of years for which data are available.
Social Security Recipients Age 65 or Older, Percent Change
Visualization Notes:
Changes in the number of those 65 or older receiving Social Security are related in large part to changes in the number of births 65 years earlier. The accelerating growth of the number of recipients in the last several years corresponds to increases in the number of births at the end of the Great Depression. Starting in 2012, the number of Social Security recipients should begin to rise more rapidly as the baby-boom generation begins to become eligible for the old-age portion of the program.
Data Source
For Medicare: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareEnrpts/.For Social Security: U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/.
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