Medicare Part D and the financial protection of the elderly

Medicare Part D and the financial protection of the elderly

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
Center for Retirement Research working paper
Contributor(s):
Engelhardt, Gary V.
Gruber, Jonathan.
Boston College. Center for Retirement Research.
Publication:
Chestnut Hill, MA : Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, c2009
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Financing, Personal
Health Expenditures
Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services -- economics
Medicare Part D -- economics
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
We examine the impact of the expansion of public prescription prescription-drug insurance coverage from Medicare Part D has had on the elderly and find evidence of substantial crowd-out. Using detailed data from the 2002-6 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), we estimate that the extension of Part D benefits resulted in 75% crowd-out of prescription drug insurance coverage and 33%-50% crowd-out of prescription drug expenditures of those 65 and older. Part D is associated with relatively small reductions in out-of-pocket spending. This suggests that the welfare gain from protecting the elderly from out-of-pocket spending risk through Part D has been small.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
Extent:
44 p.
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101519291 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101519291