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The Impact of Patient Cost-Sharing on the Poor: Evidence from Massachusetts

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  • Amitabh Chandra
  • Jonathan Gruber
  • Robin McKnight

Abstract

Greater patient cost-sharing could help reduce the fiscal pressures associated with insurance expansion by reducing the scope for moral hazard. But it is possible that low-income recipients are unable to cut back on utilization wisely and that, as a result, higher cost-sharing will lead to worse health and higher downstream costs through hospitalizations. We use exogenous variation in the copayments faced by low-income enrollees in the Massachusetts' Commonwealth Care program to study these effects. We estimate separate price elasticities of demand by type of service (hospital care, drugs, outpatient care). Overall, we find price elasticities of about -0.15 for this low-income population -- fairly similar to elasticities calculated for higher-income populations in other settings. These elasticities are somewhat larger for the chronically sick and older enrollees. A substantial portion of the decline in utilization comes from some patients cutting back on use completely, but we find no (detectable) evidence of offsetting increases in hospitalizations or emergency department visits in response to the higher copayments, either overall or for the chronically ill in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • Amitabh Chandra & Jonathan Gruber & Robin McKnight, 2012. "The Impact of Patient Cost-Sharing on the Poor: Evidence from Massachusetts," NBER Working Papers 18023, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Manning, Willard G, et al, 1987. "Health Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 251-277, June.
    2. Amitabh Chandra & Jonathan Gruber & Robin McKnight, 2010. "Patient Cost-Sharing and Hospitalization Offsets in the Elderly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 193-213, March.
    3. Buntin, Melinda Beeuwkes & Zaslavsky, Alan M., 2004. "Too much ado about two-part models and transformation?: Comparing methods of modeling Medicare expenditures," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 525-542, May.
    4. Tomas J. Philipson & Dana Goldman, 2007. "Integrated Insurance Design in the Presence of Multiple Medical Technologies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 427-432, May.
    5. Amitabh Chandra & Jonathan Gruber & Robin McKnight, 2010. "Patient Cost Sharing in Low Income Populations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 303-308, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mariana Carrera & Dana Goldman & Geoffrey Joyce, 2013. "Heterogeneity in Cost-Sharing and Cost-Sensitivity, and the Role of the Prescribing Physician," NBER Working Papers 19186, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ed Westerhout & Kees Folmer, 2013. "Why it may hurt to be insured: the effects of capping coinsurance payments," CPB Discussion Paper 239, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Dague, Laura, 2014. "The effect of Medicaid premiums on enrollment: A regression discontinuity approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Douglas Barthold, 2014. "The Effects of Prescription Drug Cost Sharing: Evidence from the Medicare Modernization Act," Working Papers 14C001, Canadian Centre for Health Economics, revised Nov 2014.

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    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

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