title: Market characteristics and awareness of managed care options among elderly beneficiaries enrolled in traditional Medicare.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of Medicare managed care plans is critical for realizing  the potential benefits of coverage choices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationships of the number of Medicare risk plans,  managed care penetration, and stability of plans in an area with traditional Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of the  program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data about beneficiaries'  awareness and knowledge of Medicare managed care plan availability. Logistic regression models used to assess the  relationships between awareness and market characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Traditional Medicare beneficiaries (n = 3,597) who  had never been enrolled in Medicare managed care, but had at least one plan available in their area in 2002, and  excluding beneficiaries under 65, receiving Medicaid, or with end stage renal disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Traditional Medicare  beneficiaries' knowledge of Medicare managed care plans in general and in their area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Having more Medicare risk  plans available was significantly associated with greater awareness, and having an intermediate number of plans (2-4) was  significantly associated with more accurate knowledge of Medicare risk plan availability than was having fewer or more plans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medicare may have more success engaging consumers in choice and capturing the benefits of plan competition by more actively selecting and managing the plan choice set.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Administration, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-6500, USA. jnm14@psu.edu
authors.forename: Jessica N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Mittler
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Landon
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Zaslavsky
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Cleary
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States