Consumer knowledge of Medicare and supplemental health insurance benefits.

In this article, data from a recent study funded by the Health Care Financing Administration are used to examine the level of knowledge about health care insurance coverage among Medicare beneficiaries. Two related categories of this knowledge are analyzed: knowledge of the Medicare program itself and knowledge of supplemental health insurance policies owned by program beneficiaries. The results indicate that Medicare beneficiaries typically do not have high levels of knowledge either about Medicare or about their supplemental health insurance. Also analyzed are the factors that affect knowledge levels.