The Effects of Medicare Advantage on Opioid Use

Laurence C. Baker, Kate Bundorf and Daniel Kessler

No 25327, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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.

JEL-codes: I11 I13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ias
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Laurence C. Baker & M. Kate Bundorf & Daniel P. Kessler, 2019. "The Effects of Medicare Advantage on Opioid Use," Journal of Health Economics, .

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