Johnnie: I'm sorry, I'm not interested Spotting Alesse In this study, Cutler and his colleagues analyzed health data collected from nearly 90,000 Medicare beneficiaries between 1991 and 2009. They compared this data with survey responses on how well the people were able to care for themselves -- whether they were able to cook, clean, bathe, dress, walk and manage money -- to determine how healthy the people were in relation to how close they were to dying.