For the first year of the data in 2014, Minnesota has a much higher Medicare enrollment than the rest of the country at 55% of the state's population. However, Minnesota sees a decline in enrollment from 2018 to 2019, and it has still not recovered to 2018 enrollment levels.
Overall, Medicare enrollment rates have increased across the country from 2014 to 2022. However, central states lag behind eastern and western states in this increase.
In 2014, Alaska and Wyoming have the lowest Medicare enrollment at 0.66% and 3.5% of their populations, respectively. These states do not see increases in enrollment that are as large as the increases in most other states from 2014-2022.
Visualization 5
Insights
States along the southern border typically have higher Hispanic participation rates in Medicare than the rest of the states.
In every state, white people make up a larger portion of the population enrolled in Medicare than black or Hispanic people. However, in Washington, D.C., black people make up the majority of the population enrolled in Medicare.
In many southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the portion of the Medicare-enrolled population that is black is decreasing and the portion that is white is increasing.
Visualization 6
Insights
In some states like West Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi, less than 1% of the population enrolled in Medicare is Hispanic. In contrast, 25% of the population enrolled in Medicare in New Mexico is Hispanic.
Hawaii is the only state in which less than half of the population enrolled in Medicare is white, black, or Hispanic. This is likely due to a larger Pacific Islander population in the state.
Over time, it appears that the overall share of whites, blacks, and Hispanics enrolled in Medicare is declining across all states. This might be due to another racial group that isn't included in the data increasing in Medicare enrollment over time.
Visualization 7
Insights
Some states see large increases in Medicare participation rate without much of a change in death rate, like Illinois from 2014 to 2015 and Alabama from 2016 to 2017.
Ohio sees a significant decline in Medicare participation rate from 2015 to 2016.
In any one year, there appears to be a slight negative correlation between Medicare participation rate and age-adjusted death rate. However, Medicare participation rate increases from 2014 to 2017 but age-adjusted death rate remains similar over time.
