Among Older Adults, End-Of-Life Medicare Spending Declined With Age

The analysis of Medicare claims data through 2014 finds that among those who died in 2014, average Medicare spending per person peaked at age 73 ($43,353 in 2014) and generally declined to $33,381 among 85-year-olds and to $27,779 among 90-year-olds.  In contrast, Medicare per person spending increased with age among Medicare beneficiaries who lived through the entire year, peaking at age 97 ($14,620 in 2014) before declining.

These findings were reported in “Medicare Spending at the End of Life: A Snapshot of Beneficiaries Who Died in 2014 and the Cost of Their . . .