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Showing results 1 to 10 of approximately 65.
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Journal Article
Drug prices under the medicare drug discount card program
In early 2004, the U.S. government initiated the Medicare Drug Discount Card Program (MDDCP), which allowed card subscribers to obtain discounts on prescription drugs. Pharmacy-level prices were posted on the program website weekly with the hope or promoting competition among card sponsors by facilitating consumer access to prices. A large panel of pharmacy-level price data collected from this website indicates that price dispersion across cards persisted throughout the program. Prices declined initially when consumers were choosing cards, but rose later when subscribers were restricted to ...
Working Paper
Getting better, feeling worse : cure rates, health insurance, and welfare
We model a health insurance market where rising cure rates for a disease may paradoxically diminish welfare and even negate the desirability of health insurance altogether. In the model, rising cure rates can affect welfare in two ways: (1) directly, by improving some individuals' health, and (2) indirectly, by influencing the mode and parameters of the optimal insurance contract and, thus, ex post financial wealth distribution. (?Mode? refers to the qualitative specifications of the contract?presence or absence of indemnities and full, partial or zero coverage of treatments received. ...
Journal Article
All is not well
Journal Article
Perspective: tobacco manufacturers are now compensating states for smoking-related costs: how will this affect the economy?
Smoking out the social and economic benefits of the 1998 tobacco settlement for Massachusetts.
Journal Article
Righting the scales: the search for balance in health care
Journal Article
Health spending rises
Working Paper
Why do the elderly save? the role of medical expenses
This paper constructs a rich model of saving for retired single people. Our framework allows for bequest motives and heterogeneity in medical expenses and life expectancies. We estimate the model using AHEAD data and the method of simulated moments. The data show that out-of-pocket medical expenses rise quickly with both age and permanent income. For many elderly people the risk of living long and requiring expensive medical care is a more important driver of old age saving than the desire to leave bequests. Social insurance programs such as Medicaid rationalize the low asset holdings of the ...
Newsletter
Facing the challenge of retiree health care: liabilities and responses of state and local governments - a conference summary
On March 12, 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Civic Federation held a forum on retiree health care for state and local government employees. The participants focused on strategies to finance and administer other post-employment benefits, or OPEB.