Voluntary Disenrollment from Medicare Managed Care:Market Factors and Disabled Beneficiaries

Disenrollment rates from Medicare man-aged care plans have been reported to thepublic as an indicator of health plan quali-ty. Previous studies have shown that volun-tary disenrollment rates differ among vul-nerable subgroups, and that these rates canreflect patient care experiences. We hypoth-esized that disabled beneficiaries may beaffected differently than other beneficiariesby competitive market factors, due to higherexpected expenditures and impaired mobili-ty. Findings suggest that disabled beneficia-ries are more likely to experience multipleproblems with managed care.