$3 million NIH grant funds national study of Medicare Advantage’s benefit expansion into social supports

(Press-News.org) Today, more than half of older Americans receive their Medicare coverage through private Medicare Advantage plans. In 2020, that program made a sweeping policy shift, allowing those plans to offer supplemental benefits beyond traditional medical care, including groceries, meal deliveries, utilities, transportation, pest control, and air filters. 

Now, with an approximately $3 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging, George Mason University health economist Jeah Jung will lead a national study to evaluate whether those benefits reduce adverse health events and improve functional outcomes.  

“Health-related social needs, such as food security, housing quality, reliable transportation, and social support, are increasingly recognized as important contributors to individuals’ health,” said Jung, a professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy. Despite the wide rollout of the new initiative to meet those needs, she said, “there is currently no information or evidence of how many people are using it, how they’re using it, and whether it’s actually bringing the intended outcomes.” 

As of 2025, 55% of Medicare beneficiaries, or 34.4 million Americans, were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, the private alternative to traditional Medicare. According to Jung’s data analysis, more than 30% of Medicare Advantage plans adopted non-medical supplemental benefits by 2025. Meanwhile, she found that more than 90% of dual-eligible special needs plans—serving low-income beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid—adopted the benefits. 

“This is a really large-scale initiative by Medicare to address unmet social needs and see whether that helps maintain and improve beneficiaries’ health outcomes as well,” Jung said. “With an investment of this size, we want to see evidence on how it’s working and who it’s reaching so the policy can be refined in the future.” 

Using secure Medicare administrative data, Jung’s five-year project will examine whether the availability of non-medical benefits is associated with changes in emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and whether patient can remain in their homes and communities rather than enter nursing homes. The study will also analyze who uses the new benefits, and whether uptake differs by demographics, such as race, ethnicity, sex, health risks, and area-level socioeconomic factors. 

The project will also include contributions from Emily Ihara, professor and chair of the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health. Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University and Dartmouth College are serving as co-investigators. 

Key Takeaways

A $3 million National Institute on Aging grant will fund a national study of Medicare Advantage’s benefit expansion into social supports such as food assistance, transportation, and other non-medical benefits. 

Led by George Mason University health economist Jeah Jung, the five-year study will use Medicare administrative data to examine whether these benefits reduce emergency visits, hospitalizations, and nursing home entry. 

The findings will provide national evidence on who is using these benefits and whether this large-scale federal effort is working as intended. 

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