Who is Enrolled in For-Profit vs. Nonprofit Medicare HMOs?

We compare the characteristics of enrollees in for-profit and nonprofit Medicare health plans using nationwide data from the 1996 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. We find few differences in overall health status, limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs), or history of chronic disease. However, older Americans enrolled in for-profit plans are substantially poorer and less educated than those enrolled in nonprofit plans, are more likely to have joined their plan recently, and are more likely to have joined a plan with the expectation of reducing their out-of-pocket health care costs.