Mortality of the Extreme Aged in the United States in the 1990S, Based on Improved Medicare Data

The most extensive mortality experience of very old persons in North America is the experience reflected in the master records of Medicare enrollment, and this work has undertaken several initiatives at the microdata level to improve the quality of the information.

Abstract

Abstract The most extensive mortality experience of very old persons in North America is the experience reflected in the master records of Medicare enrollment. Furthermore, the data are of high quality; for example, the age in the record generally is not a mere allegation, but rather is supported by documentation. Indeed, this experience is used for the older ages in the construction of the decennial U.S. life tables. Even the best data, however, are not free of error, and the Medicare data contain errors of duplicate information, incorrect ages, and unreported deaths. These errors understandably are most serious at the oldest ages, when the true experience is least extensive. We have undertaken several initiatives at the microdata level to improve the quality of the information, and we report those initiatives and the mortality probabilities that were obtained in this paper.‡