Study Findings from Wake Forest University School of Medicine Broaden Understanding of Insurance (Medicare’s 60th Anniversary: Policy, Politics and Payments): Insurance

2026 APR 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Insurance have been published. According to news reporting originating from Winston Salem, North Carolina, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Recent contributions by Dr. Jang and colleagues and by Dr.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, “Lepkowsky in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (AJGP) and AJGP Open Science prompted a timely review of Medicare’s 60-year history and its current policy trajectory. Medicare has been influenced by ongoing partisan debates over expanding benefits, controlling costs, and whether Medicare should be considered an insurance or entitlement program. Despite these tensions, Medicare remains one of the nation’s most popular federal programs. This editorial review examines contemporary efforts to control costs through value-based payment models and expanding privatization of Medicare through Medicare Advantage plans (MA plans). The first approach aims to improve provider care through financial and quality incentives, like accountable care organizations (ACOs), boosting patient outcomes and satisfaction. The second approach shifts beneficiaries from fee-for-service Medicare to privately managed health plans using benefit design. Both use financial incentives to offer the promise of improved access, satisfaction, and outcomes. However, ACOs and MA plans may disadvantage beneficiaries with complex conditions, including late-life psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders. While healthcare delivery science may inform future policy decisions, political forces will continue to shape benefit design, beneficiary choice, and organizational models of healthcare delivery.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The 20th-century promise of comprehensive, affordable healthcare coverage for older adults faces 21st-century challenges in achieving the quadruple aim of health care: better care, lower costs, improved population health, and improved provider well-being.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Medicare’s 60th Anniversary: Policy, Politics and Payments. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2026. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Christopher C. Colenda, Section on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.

Publisher contact information for the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry is: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA.

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