Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries Rely on Medicaid for Critical Help

Jean Accius, PhD

Lynda Flowers, AARP Public Policy Institute

Brendan Flinn, AARP Public Policy Institute

Published March 27, 2016

Medicaid is a lifeline to close to 11 million Medicare beneficiaries. These individuals—called dual eligibles or duals—are the poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable of all Medicare beneficiaries. In this new PPI report, Jean Accius, Lynda Flowers, and Brendan Flinn, discuss how the Medicaid program benefits dual eligibles, describe how low-income Medicare beneficiaries qualify for Medicaid, and identify how recent health care reform proposals could harm Medicare’s most vulnerable beneficiaries.

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