Herron & Cavanaugh MEDICAL EXPENDITURES OF OLDER PEOPLE 415 Can the Transcendental Meditation Program Reduce the Medical Expenditures of Older People? A Longitudinal Cost-Reduction Study in Canada Robert E. Herron Kenneth L. Cavanaugh Maharishi University of Management We examined whether a method for enhancing psychological and physiological balance and health, the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, can reduce medical expenditures in people over 65 years old. Inflation-adjusted payments to physicians for treating 163 TM practitio- ners were compared with those for 163 control participants matched for age, sex, and median pre-intervention payments. Yearly changes in physician payments were estimated for each participant using separate least squares regressions for pre- and post-intervention periods. During the pre-meditation period, mean changes in payments differed nonsig- nificantly between groups (p = .27). After learning the TM technique, the mean annual change in payments for TM practitioners was significantly lower than for controls (p = .001). The TM group’s five-year cumulative reduction relative to controls was 70%. Author’s Info: Robert E. Herron, Health Management Research Center, PO Box 2045, Fairfield, IA 52556; (641) 472-9114; email
[email protected]. Authors’ Note: This ongoing study was funded by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gratzon and the Lancaster Foundation of Bethesda, Maryland. Stephen L. Hillis, Ph.D. provided invaluable suggestions and advice. Deep appreciation also goes to Ginette R. Herron, M.S. who served as the research assistant and French translator for this study. We wish to acknowledge the helpful comments and editorial suggestions of Martha Bright, M.L.S. ®Transcendental Meditation, TM, TM-Sidhi, Maharishi Vedic Science, Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health, and Maharishi University of Management are registered or common law trademarks licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense or with permission.