Working Paper: NBER ID: w25327
Authors: Laurence C. Baker; Kate Bundorf; Daniel Kessler
Abstract: Despite a vast literature on the determinants of prescription opioid use, the role of health insurance plans has received little attention. We study how the form of Medicare beneficiaries’ drug coverage affects the volume of opioids they consume. We find that enrollment in Medicare Advantage, which integrates drug coverage with other medical benefits, significantly reduces beneficiaries’ likelihood of filling an opioid prescription, as compared to enrollment in a stand-alone drug plan. Approximately half of this effect was due to fewer fills from prescribers who write a very large number of opioid prescriptions.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I11; I13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| enrollment in a MAPD plan (I18) | likelihood of filling an opioid prescription (I11) |
| enrollment in a MAPD plan (I18) | likelihood of receiving prescriptions from high prescribers (I11) |
| enrollment in a MAPD plan (I18) | number of days' supply of opioids received (Y10) |