MCBS Community Brochure

What do you need to know about your
rights and privacy?
• Your participation is voluntary. You do not
have to answer any question you do not
want to answer, though most people find
the interview enjoyable.
• The information you provide will be kept
private to the extent permitted by law, as
prescribed by the Privacy Act of 1974. The
information you give will only be used for
research and statistical purposes.
• Your Medicare Benefits will not be
affected in any way by your answers or
your decision whether or not to participate.
• Your data could be carefully verified by
computer matching to administrative
records under Public Law 100-503
[The Computer Matching and Privacy
Protection Act].

Any other questions?
Please feel free to contact MCBS staff at
NORC at the University of Chicago at
anytime.
Call toll-free at: 1-877-389-3429

Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey

Email at: [email protected]
Visit us at: mcbs.norc.org

This survey is authorized by section 1875 (42 USC
139511) of the Social Security Act and is conducted
by NORC at the University of Chicago for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
OMB No. 0938-0568 | Expires 9/30/2021

MCBS

You have been selected to take part in an
important study called the Medicare
Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). You
are one of 16,000 people scientifically
selected at random to represent the
Medicare experiences of other Medicare
beneficiaries all over the United States.

What is the Medicare Current
Beneficiary Survey?
The MCBS is a study to learn more about
people who use Medicare, in order for the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) and researchers to learn more about
Medicare beneficiaries and their health care
experiences. The MCBS has been conducted
since 1991 because the information you
provide about your health and health care
costs is so valuable. CMS, part of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services,
oversees Medicare and sponsors this survey
in order to gain valuable information from
you about how Medicare is administered.

What does this mean for me?
If you take part in this study a specially
trained interviewer from our contractor,
NORC at the University of Chicago, will
come to your house. The interviewer will
ask you questions about the health care
services you use, your opinions about those
services, and how much they cost. The
initial survey lasts about an hour, with the
remaining surveys lasting approximately
ninety minutes. The MCBS collects data
three times a year, and you will be contacted
again for subsequent interviews. You will
truly be our partner in this survey, because
your continued participation makes the
survey data we collect valuable.

Why should I participate?
The information you provide us cannot be
replaced by any other data source in the
country. This study is the only source of
such in-depth health care cost and use,
which are used to accomplish the following:

• To help us understand how Medicare
affects your daily life, and what problems
you might be experiencing with it.
• To help increase Medicare coverage
and efficiency for you and for other
beneficiaries, both now and in the future.
• To provide legislators and policy makers
with more information to create effective
laws and regulations for people enrolled in
Medicare. In fact, the Part D prescription
drug benefit was created in part based on
findings from the MCBS.
• To improve the quality of care you and
other Medicare beneficiaries receive.
• To create reports using your data to
describe key factors about how people use
Medicare.

What do we know about Medicare
because of YOU?
General Health Compared to Others of the
Same Age, by Age, 2013

 he large majority of Medicare
T
beneficiaries classify their health as
Excellent, Very Good, or Good in
comparison to others of the same age,
except for beneficiaries under 65.

¬¬

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

82%

Usual Source of Care, 2013

 he usual source of health care for over
T
70% of all Medicare beneficiaries is a
doctor’s office, while 5% do not have a
usual source of care.

¬¬

Hospital OPD
or ED
2%

Other
Clinic/Center
6%

HMO
3%
Doctor's
clinic
13%

Doctor's office
71%

Frequency of Delaying Obtaining a
Prescription Due to Cost, 2013

1 .5% of all Medicare beneficiaries
report that they often delay obtaining
prescribed medication because of cost,
with over 90% never delaying obtaining a
prescription due to cost.

¬¬

Often, 1.5%

81%

81%

63%
37%
18%

19%

19%
Never, 92%

<65
Fair/Poor

65-74

75-84

Excellent/Very Good/Good

85+

None
5%

Sometimes,
6.5%