Working Paper: NBER ID: w19948
Authors: Robert Kaestner; Cuiping Long; G. Caleb Alexander
Abstract: We examine whether obtaining prescription drug insurance through the Medicare Part D program affected hospital admissions, expenditures associated with those admissions, and mortality. We use a large, geographically diverse sample of Medicare beneficiaries and exploit the natural experiment of Medicare Part D to obtain estimates of the effect of prescription drug insurance on hospitalizations and mortality. Results indicate that obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D was associated with an 8% decrease in the number of hospital admissions, a 7% decrease in Medicare expenditures, and a 12% decrease in total resource use. Gaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D was not significantly associated with mortality.
Keywords: Medicare Part D; prescription drug insurance; hospital admissions; mortality
JEL Codes: I12; I13; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in hospital admissions (I19) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in hospital admissions for congestive heart failure (CHF) (I11) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in hospital admissions for coronary atherosclerosis (I12) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (I11) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in Medicare expenditures for hospitalizations (H51) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | Decrease in total resource use associated with hospital admissions (L99) |
| Obtaining prescription drug insurance through Medicare Part D (I13) | No significant association with mortality rates (I12) |