Health, Medical Innovation, and Disability Insurance: A Care Study of HIV Antiretroviral Therapy

Perry Singleton

No 182, Center for Policy Research Working Papers from Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

Abstract: The growth of the US Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program has raised questions about whether the program targets the disabled population effectively. To address these questions, this study examines the direct effect of health on SSDI outcomes. The effect is identified by a new antiretroviral therapy introduced in late 1995 and early 1996 to treat the human immunodeficiency virus. Administrative data on SSDI applications come from the Disability Research File. According to the analysis, the new therapy had an immediate and persistent effect on program entry. By 1997, the therapy decreased HIV-related applications by 35.2 percent and new awards by 36.7 percent. The therapy did not substantially increase program exits for work and, instead, decreased program exits through death. By 1999, the therapy increased HIV-related expenditures by $43.6 million, reflecting a decrease in mortality among existing beneficiaries who continued to receive benefits.

Keywords: Health; HIV; Social Security; Disability Insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2015-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-ino
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:max:cprwps:182

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