TY  - JOUR
AU  - Levy,Helen
AU  - Weir,David
TI  - Take-Up of Medicare Part D: Results from the Health and Retirement Study
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14692
PY  - 2009
Y2  - January 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14692
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14692.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Helen G. Levy
University of Michigan
Institute for Social Research - MI SQ 4119
426 Thompson St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 - 1248
Tel: 734/936 4506
Fax: 734/647 1186
E-Mail: hlevy@umich.edu

David Weir
3010 ISR
426 Thompson St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
E-Mail: dweir@isr.umich.edu
AB  - We analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study on senior citizens' take-up of Medicare Part D. Take-up among those without drug coverage in 2004 was high; about fifty to sixty percent of this group have Part D coverage in 2006. Only seven percent of senior citizens lack drug coverage in 2006 compared with 24 percent in 2004. We find little circumstantial evidence that Part D crowded out private coverage in the short run, since the persistence of employer coverage was only slightly lower in 2004 -- 2006 than it was in 2002  -- 2004. We find that demand for prescription drugs is the most important determinant of the decision to enroll in Part D among those with no prior coverage. Many of those who remained without coverage in 2006 reported that they do not use prescribed medicines, and the majority had relatively low out-of-pocket spending.  Thus, for the most part, Medicare beneficiaries seem to have been able to make economically rational decisions about Part D enrollment despite the complexity of the program. We also find that Part D erased socioeconomic gradients in drug coverage among the elderly.
ER  -