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M edicare P art D and Its Effect on the Use of Prescription Drugs and Use of Other Health Care Services of the Elderly
Author(s) -
Kaestner Robert
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.21625
Subject(s) - medical prescription , prescription drug , medicine , drug , socioeconomic status , health care , health insurance , environmental health , family medicine , population , pharmacology , economics , economic growth
We examine the effect of gaining prescription drug insurance, as a result of M edicare P art D , on use of prescription drugs and other medical services for a nationally representative sample of M edicare beneficiaries. Given the heightened importance of prescription drugs for those with chronic illness, we provide separate estimates for elderly in poorer health. We find that M edicare P art D significantly reduced socioeconomic and geographic disparities in prescription drug insurance among the elderly. Gaining prescription drug insurance through M edicare P art D was associated with a 30 percent increase in the number of annual prescriptions and a 40 percent increase in expenditures on prescription drugs for both the general population of the elderly and the elderly in poorer health. We find little evidence that prescription drug insurance was strongly associated with the use of outpatient and inpatient services, although our investigation of these associations was limited by a lack of statistical power.