Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Some fun facts from Kaiser Family Foundation about Medicare Part D, which covers prescription drugs. Enrollment has doubled since Part D’s inception in 2019. Enrollment in managed care drug plans (i.e., Medicare Advantage Part D Plans [MA-PD]) has continued to grow, but enrollment in stand alone Part D Plans [PDP] has leveled off or decreased.…
To answer this question, one can examine how individuals choose health plans based on premiums, expected out of pocket cost, plan quality, and other factors. A paper by Abaluck and Gruber (2011) use data from 2006 and find that up to 70% of seniors appear to choose plans that are not optimal. Do these conclusions…
If you have multiple sclerosis, effective disease modifying therapies (DMTs), can help to reduce relapse rates and slow disease progression. That is, if you can get access to them. A paper by Hartung et al. (2019) found the following when examining 2007-2016 Prescription Drug Plan Formulary files concerning DMT coverage among Part D plans: Among…
Re-insurance is used to help insurers the cost of unpredictable, high cost events. Government re-insurance likely had a beneficial effect of attracting new firms to the market when Part D was rolled out in 2006. However, to what extent is re-insurance important for the Part D market compared to in the commercial market. A paper…
If we’re talking about Medicare’s Part D expansion to cover prescription drugs, the answer is yes according to a paper by Dunn and Shapiro (2018). We examine the impact of Medicare Part D on mortality for the population over the age of 65. We identify the effects of the reform using variation in drug coverage…
Huh and Reif (2017) have an interesting study of the effect of Medicare Part D on mortality. The abstract is below. We investigate the implementation of Medicare Part D and estimate that this prescription drug benefit program reduced elderly mortality by 2.2% annually. This was driven primarily by a reduction in cardiovascular mortality, the leading cause of…
In 2006, the Medicare program was expanded to include prescription drug coverage through the Part D program. Previous studies have found that Medicare Part D improved prescription drug coverage rates among seniors (Levy and Weir,2010), increased medication utilization (Duggan and Morton, 2010), decreased out-of-pocket spending (Engelhardt and Gruber, 2011; Ketcham and Simon, 2008), and reduced medication…
Why do Medicare patients choose to stay in their current Part D prescription drug plan or switch to another? Are they rational actors maximizing their their financial benefit or do other factors play a role. A paper by Kate Ho and co-authors (NBER WP version) presented at the 2016 ASSA meetings find the switch rates…
Medicare patients are likely to discontinue their medication in December. Why? Are they busy with the Christmas holidays? Do they have additional expenses for gifts and limited funds for prescription drugs? Perhaps. Another idea advanced by Kaplan and Zhang (2014) is that Medicare’s benefit structure encourages discontinuation. Why is that? Medicare’s Part D drug plan…
…at least when it comes to prescription drugs. Health Pocket reports that the lowest cost Part D plan is the Humana/Walmart RX plan which charges a monthly premium of $12.60. In 2013, AARP MedicareRX Saver Plus from UnitedHealthcare was the lowest cost plan and charged a premium of $15. In 2014, however, the monthly premium…