TY - JOUR T1 - Medical insurance and the use of health care services by the elderly. JF - J Health Econ Y1 - 1997 A1 - Michael D Hurd A1 - Kathleen McGarry KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Aged KW - Health Care Surveys KW - Health Services for the Aged KW - Health Status Indicators KW - Hospitalization KW - Humans KW - Insurance, Health KW - Medicare KW - Office Visits KW - Patient Acceptance of Health Care KW - Private Sector KW - Probability KW - United States AB -

The objective of this paper is to find how health insurance influences the use of health care services by the elderly. On the basis of the first wave of the Asset and Health Dynamics Survey, we find that those who are the most heavily insured use the most health care services. Because our data show little relationship between observable health measures and either the propensity to hold or to purchase private insurance, we interpret this as an effect of the incentives embodied in the insurance, rather than as the result of adverse selection in the purchase of insurance.

PB - 16 VL - 16 UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10169091 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10169091?dopt=Abstract U4 - Health Status/Health Services/Economic Status ER -