AN NBER PUBLICATION
ISSUE: No. 1, March 2014
The Bulletin on Aging & Health
In recent years, mental disabilities have overtaken physical disabilities as the leading cause of activity limitations for children. One of the most prevalent mental conditions affecting children is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As the number of children diagnosed with the condition has increased, so too has the use of stimulant medications such as Ritalin to treat the condition. In 2011, eleven percent of U.S. children ages 4 to 17 had ever been diagnosed...
Article
Health care analysts have long been puzzled by the existence of substantial regional variation in health care expenditures. In the Medicare population, for example, regional averages of price-adjusted per-patient expenditures range from under $7,000 to nearly $14,000, differences that cannot be explained by regional variation in patient illness or income.
In Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending (NBER Working...
Article
Health care expenditures in the U.S. have grown faster than GDP for many decades, leading to concerns about the long-term sustainability of public and private insurance programs. Yet over the past decade, the growth in health care spending has moderated, leading to much speculation about whether the era of rapidly rising costs may finally be coming to an end or whether this is merely a short-term phenomenon driven by the recent recession.
In Is This Time Different? The...