TY  - JOUR
AU  - Basu,Anirban
AU  - Yin,Wesley
AU  - Alexander,G. Caleb
TI  - The impact of Medicare Part D on Medicare-Medicaid Dual-eligible Beneficiaries' Prescription Utilization and Expenditures
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14413
PY  - 2008
Y2  - October 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14413
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14413.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Anirban Basu
Department of Health Services
School of Public Health
University of Washington
1959 NE Pacific St
Box - 357660
Seattle WA 98195
Tel: 206) 616-2986
Fax: (206) 543-3964
E-Mail: basua@uw.edu

Wesley Yin
Department of Economics
Boston University
270 Bay State Rd., Rm 501
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617-353-6150
E-Mail: wyin@bu.edu

G. Caleb Alexander
University of Chicago
5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC-2007
Chicago IL 60637
E-Mail: calexand@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
AB  - Features of Part D gave rise to broad concern that the drug benefit would negatively impact prescription utilization among the six million dual eligible beneficiaries, either during the transition from state Medicaid to Part D coverage, or in the long-run. At the same time, Part D contained other features, such as its auto-enrollment and premium subsidization policies, which were designed to safeguard utilization for this vulnerable group. Using national retail pharmacy claims, we examine the experience of dual eligibles during the first 18 months of Part D.  We find no evidence that Part D adversely affected pharmaceutical utilization or out-of-pocket expenditures in the transition period, or in the 18 months subsequent to Part D implementation.
ER  -