Prevalence and Medical Costs of Chronic Diseases Among Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries

Introduction: This review summarizes the current literature for the prevalence and medical costs of noncommunicable chronic diseases among adult Medicaid beneficiaries to inform future program design.

Methods: The databases MEDLINE and CINAHL were searched in August 2016 using keywords, including Medicaid, health status, and healthcare cost, to identify original studies that were published during 2000-2016, examined Medicaid as an independent population group, examined prevalence or medical costs of chronic conditions, and included adults within the age group 18-64 years. The review and data extraction was conducted in Fall 2016-Spring 2017. Disease-related costs (costs specifically to treat the disease) and total costs (all-cause medical costs for a patient with the disease) are presented separately.

Results: Among the 29 studies selected, prevalence estimates for enrollees aged 18-64 years were 8.8%-11.8% for heart disease, 17.2%-27.4% for hypertension, 16.8%-23.2% for hyperlipidemia, 7.5%-12.7% for diabetes, 9.5% for cancer, 7.8%-19.3% for asthma, 5.0%-22.3% for depression, and 55.7%-62.1% for one or more chronic conditions. Estimated annual per patient disease-related costs (2015 U.S. dollars) were $3,219-$4,674 for diabetes, $3,968-$6,491 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and $989-$3,069 for asthma. Estimated hypertension-related costs were $687, but total costs per hypertensive beneficiary ranged much higher. Estimated total annual healthcare costs were $29,271-$51,937 per beneficiary with heart failure and $11,446-$20,585 per beneficiary with schizophrenia. Costs among beneficiaries with cancer were $29,384-$46,194 for the 6 months following diagnosis.

Conclusions: These findings could help inform the evaluation of interventions to prevent and manage noncommunicable chronic diseases and their potential to control costs among the vulnerable Medicaid population.