How well a person on Medicare understands the program's benefits affects their access to healthcare, according to a study. The report found that a third of the surveyed Medicare beneficiaries considered themselves as being unfamiliar or very unfamiliar with their program's benefits. "Well designed educational interventions or policies simplifying Medicare benefit programs could have a significant effect on beneficiaries' abilities to get needed care," principal author Robert O. Morgan, a professor of Management, Policy and Community Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health, said in a news release.