The impact of Medicare part D on income-related inequality in pharmaceutical expenditure.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Income-related inequality measures such as the concentration index are often used to describe the unequal distribution of health, health care access, or expenditure in a single measure. This study demonstrates the use of such measures to evaluate the distributional impact of changes in health insurance coverage. We use the example of Medicare Part D in the United States, which increased access to prescription medications for Medicare beneficiaries from 2006.

Methods

Using pooled cross-sectional samples from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 1997-2011, we estimated income-related inequality in drug expenditures over time using the concentration and generalised concentration indices. A difference-in-differences analysis investigated the change in inequality i

SUBMITTER: Carvalho N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6469203 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature