Data sources
Two health benefit plans represented the data sources: Commercial for
working population and their families (< 65 years) and
Medicare for the elderly (> 65 years). The
Commercial plan is rooted in private insurance, while Medicare is a
government-sponsored program and managed by healthcare organizations. At
the beginning of the study (January 1, 2016 to May 1, 2019), only
individuals with both medical/pharmacy benefits were included with at
least six months of benefits or more in the prevalence study. To ensure
that members in the Commercial plan would not exceed 65 years at the end
of the study, only individuals aged 61 years or less participated. The
study population included 7,429,464 persons (3,733,874 females and
3,695,590 males) in the Commercial plan, with 914,528 individuals in the
Medicare plan (524,573 females and 389,855 males). In total, this
investigation spanned over a period of up to 3 years and 10 months (from
January 1, 2016 to October 31, 2019).