Estimating the effects of prescription drug coverage for Medicare beneficiaries.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To identify the effect of insurance coverage on prescription utilization by Medicare beneficiaries.

Data sources/study setting

Secondary data from the 1999 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Cost and Use files, a nationally representative survey of Medicare enrollees.

Study design

The paper uses a cross-sectional design with (1) a standard regression framework to estimate the impact of prescription coverage on utilization controlling for potential selection bias with covariate control based on the Diagnostic Cost Group/Hierarchical Condition Category (DCG/HCC) risk adjuster, and (2) a multistage residual inclusion method using instrumental variables to control for selection bias and identify the insurance coverage effect.

Data collection/extractio

SUBMITTER: Shea DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1955253 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature