Expenditures for the medical care of elderly people living in the community in 1980.

Policy debates about financing medical care for the elderly are often clouded by evidence drawn from averages based on aggregate data. The National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey enables examination of the circumstances of the 95 percent of the elderly who are not institutionalized. A significant portion of out-of-pocket charges falls on the poor; public expenditures are highly concentrated for the relatively few elderly in their last year of life. Medicare and Medicaid have successfully lessened the burden on families.