Income and Assets of Medicare Beneficiaries in 2023

Income and asset levels in 2023 are based on the Urban Institute’s Dynamic Simulation of Income Model (DYNASIM4). DYNASIM4 is a dynamic microsimulation model that projects the population and analyzes the long-term distributional consequences of retirement and aging issues. The model starts with a representative sample of individuals and families and ages the data year by year, simulating demographic and economic events including all key components of retirement income. The model integrates many important trends and differences among groups in life course processes, including birth, death, schooling, leaving home, first marriage, remarriage, divorce, disability, work, retirement, and earnings.

Estimates of income take into account Social Security payments, pensions, and other income sources, such as income from assets (e.g., stocks and bonds), rental income, and retirement account (IRA) withdrawals. Estimates of savings take into account retirement account holdings (such as IRAs or 401Ks) and other financial assets such as savings accounts, stocks, and bonds. DYNASIM stock and bond returns use historic data through 2022, based on the Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation (SBBI) 2020 Yearbook and Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). Estimates of home equity reflect total home value minus home debt (e.g., mortgages), and are adjusted based on the Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index through 2022. Total household income, savings, and home equity are split equally between spouses in order to estimate per capita values for married beneficiaries. Roughly half of all people with Medicare are unmarried (e.g., single, widowed, or divorced), according to a KFF analysis of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey 2021. All dollar amounts are presented in 2023 dollars on a per capita basis. Estimates presented here excluded people who died during the year.