@techreport{NBERw16155,
 title = "Medicare Part D and the Financial Protection of the Elderly",
 author = "Gary V. Engelhardt and Jonathan Gruber",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "16155",
 year = "2010",
 month = "July",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w16155",
 abstract = {We examine the impact of the expansion of public prescription drug insurance coverage from Medicare Part D on the elderly and find evidence of substantial crowd-out.  Using detailed data from the 2002-7 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), we estimate that the extension of Part D benefits resulted in 80% crowd-out of both prescription drug insurance coverage and prescription drug expenditures of those 65 and older.  Part D is associated with only modest reductions in out-of-pocket spending.  This suggests that the welfare gain from protecting the elderly from out-of-pocket spending risk through Part D has been small.},
}