The Impact of Nearly Universal Insurance Coverage on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Medicare

David Card, Carlos Dobkin and Nicole Maestas

American Economic Review, 2008, vol. 98, issue 5, 2242-58

Abstract: The onset of Medicare eligibility at age 65 leads to sharp changes in the health insurance coverage of the US population. These changes lead to increases in the use of medical services, with a pattern of gains across socioeconomic groups that varies by type of service. While routine doctor visits increase more for groups that previously lacked insurance, hospital admissions for relatively expensive procedures like bypass surgery and joint replacement increase more for previously insured groups that are more likely to have supplementary coverage after 65, reflecting the relative generosity of their combined insurance package under Medicare. (JEL I11, I18)

JEL-codes: I11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.98.5.2242
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (342)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.98.5.2242 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/dec08/20051296_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/dec08/20051296_app.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:98:y:2008:i:5:p:2242-58

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().