Affordability of the health expenditures of insured americans before the affordable care act

J.A. Nyman and H.M. Trenz

American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 2, 264-266

Abstract: Central to the Affordable Care Act is the notion of affordability and the role of health insurance in making otherwise unaffordable health care affordable. We used data from the 1996 to 2008 versions of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to estimate the portion of overall health care expenditures by insured respondents that would otherwise have been beyond their disposable incomes and assets. We found that about one third of insured expenditures would have been unaffordable, with a much higher percentage among publicly insured individuals. This result suggests that one of the main functions of insurance is to cover expenses that insured individuals would not otherwise be able to afford.

Keywords: economics; female; health care cost; health care policy; health insurance; human; income; United States, Female; Health Expenditures; Humans; Income; Insurance, Health; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302958_3

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302958

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