The Effects of Medicare on Medical Expenditure Risk and Financial Strain

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barcellos, Silvia Helena; Jacobson, Mireille
• 署名单位: University of Southern California; University of California System; University of California Irvine; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20140262
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 41-70
• 关键词: health-insurance; advantage; services; coverage; IMPACT

摘要

Medicare offers substantial protection from medical expenditure risk, protection that has increased in recent years. At age 65, out-of-pocket expenditures drop by 33 percent at the mean and 53 percent at the ninety-fifth percentile. Medical-related financial strain, such as difficulty paying bills and collections agency contact, is dramatically reduced. Nonetheless, using a stylized expected utility framework, the gain from reducing out-of-pocket expenditures accounts for only 18 percent of the social costs of financing Medicare. This calculation ignores any direct health benefits from Medicare or any indirect health effects due to reductions in financial stress.