Medicare Part D and the Financial Protection of the Elderly / Gary V. Engelhardt, Jonathan Gruber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Engelhardt, Gary V.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gruber, Jonathan.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16155.

NBER working paper series no. w16155

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2010.

Summary:

We examine the impact of the expansion of public prescription drug insurance coverage from Medicare Part D on the elderly and find evidence of substantial crowd-out. Using detailed data from the 2002-7 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), we estimate that the extension of Part D benefits resulted in 80% crowd-out of both prescription drug insurance coverage and prescription drug expenditures of those 65 and older. Part D is associated with only modest 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.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2010.