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Source: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2012, USA TODAY analysis
Source: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2012, USA TODAY analysis
The prevalence figures in this dataset are for Medicare beneficiaries over the age of 65 who have traditional fee-for-service Medicare. The spending on this group is compared against all traditional Medicare spending in the county, including dollars spent on recipients under the age of 65.
Chronic conditions are counted among 17 diseases: Alzheimer’s and related dementia, arthritis, asthma, atrial fibrillation, autism, cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, diabetes, heart failure, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, osteoporosis, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and stroke.
The spending, summary and prevalence data is all from 2012, the most recent year all datasets were available. In a few dozen cases where Medicare populations were particularly small, CMS redacted county-level data. In the case of some parts of Alaska, where Medicare’s figures did not correspond to modern Census boroughs, data for multiple geographies was combined into a single Alaska pool of beneficiaries.
Credits: Sarah Frostenson, Kristin DeRamus, Gannett Digital and Meghan Hoyer, Jodi Upton, USA TODAY