How would mental health parity affect the marginal price of care?

Objective: To determine the impact of parity in mental health benefits on the marginal prices that consumers face for mental health treatment.

Data Sources/data Collection: We used detailed information on health plan benefits for a nationally representative sample of the privately insured population under age 65 taken from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (Edwards and Berlin 1989). The survey was carefully aged and reweighted to represent 1995 population and coverage characteristics.

Cross-subsidization in the market for employment-related health insurance.

This paper uses data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey to examine the nature of equilibrium in the market for employment-related health insurance. We examine coverage generosity, premiums, and insurance benefits net of expenditures on premiums, showing that despite a degree of market segmentation, there was a substantial amount of pooling of heterogeneous risks in 1987 among households with employment-related coverage. Our results are largely invariant to (i) firm size and (ii) whether or not employers offer a choice among plans.

Coping, conflictual social interactions, social support, and mood among HIV-infected persons. HCSUS Consortium.

This study considers the interrelationships among coping, conflictual social interactions, and social support, as well as their combined associations with positive and negative mood. Research has shown that each of these variables affects adjustment to stressful circumstances. Few studies, however, examine this full set of variables simultaneously.

Health insurance, health reform, and outpatient mental health treatment: who benefits?

This research examines how extending health insurance coverage to the previously uninsured impacts outpatient mental health treatment use among adults with different needs. Using data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study and the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, I develop simulations based on estimates of treatment demand. I find that insurance substantially increases demand by the mentally ill, but increased coverage alone cannot meet their treatment needs.

Medical savings accounts: microsimulation results from a model with adverse selection.

This paper examines medical savings accounts combined with high-deductible catastrophic health plans (MSA/CHPs), exploring the possible consequences of making tax preferred MSA/CHPs available to the entire employment-related health insurance market. The paper uses microsimulation methods to examine the equilibrium effects of MSA/CHPs on health care and non-health care expenditures, tax revenues, insurance premiums, and exposure to risk. If MSA/CHPs are offered alongside comprehensive plans, biased MSA/CHP enrollment can lead to premium spirals that drive out comprehensive coverage.

Health insurance choices in two-worker households: determinants of double coverage.

Understanding how households make health insurance choices is of critical importance in evaluating issues of equity and efficiency in health care markets. We consider a largely neglected aspect of such decision making: the decision of families with two working spouses to obtain double coverage. Using data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, we find that household decisions to obtain double coverage are especially sensitive to a couple's out-of-pocket premium costs.

Changes in access to care, 1977-1996: the role of health insurance.

Objective: To describe changes in Americans' access to care over the last 20 years focusing on the uninsured, Hispanic American, and young adult populations, and to analyze the factors underlying these changes with a particular focus on the role of health insurance.

Data Sources/study Setting: Data from the 1977 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey, the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, and the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Study Design: Focusing on whether each individual has a usual source of health care, we present descriptive statistics and algebraic decompositions.

The case of disability in the family: impact on health care utilization and expenditures for nondisabled members.

Families with a disabled member undergo heightened emotional and financial stress, which can arise from caring for the person with one or more disabilities over the life course or at the end of life. Because health care resources are strained by the needs of the disabled family member, nondisabled members are often limited in health care access and utilization when they are most in need of care. This analysis uses the National Medical Expenditure Survey to describe families with disabled members, based on multiple definitions of disability, and to examine health care utilization and expenditures by nondisabled family members.

Epidemiologic trends in the evaluation and treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms in elderly male Medicare patients from 1991 to 1995.

Purpose: We describe utilization of procedures to reveal recent epidemiologic trends in evaluation and management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Materials And Methods: Medicare claims data reflect clinical practice in the vast majority of elderly Americans. The standard 5% beneficiary sample from Medicare claims files for 1991 to 1995 was searched to identify men 65 years old or older with invoices containing diagnostic and procedure codes indicative of prostate disease or lower urinary tract symptoms.

Transitions in insurance and employment among people with HIV infection.

This article examines the extent to which people with HIV infection change their insurance and employment status over time and investigates the correlates of such changes. Data come from the AIDS Cost and Services Utilization Survey, which followed 1,949 HIV-infected adults over an 18-month period that began March 1, 1991. In the first interview, overall, 33% of respondents had private insurance; 40% had public coverage (i.

Functional status transitions and survival in HIV disease: evidence from the AIDS Costs and Service Utilization Survey.

Objective: The authors examined the prevalence of limitations in physical functioning in a large sample of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the patterns of change in their functional status with time.

Methods: Patients receiving treatment for HIV infection were sampled from 26 providers in 10 cities across the United States; the analytic sample included 1,784 adults with HIV infection. Functional status was measured three times during a 12-month period.

The demand for Medicare supplemental insurance benefits: the role of attitudes toward medical care and risk.

This paper uses data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey to analyze the role that attitudes toward medical care and risk play in Medicare beneficiaries' demand for supplemental insurance. We investigate the factors affecting the demand for any supplemental insurance as well as specific Medigap benefits, such as coverage for Medicare's gaps in hospital and physician services, skilled nursing facility care, and prescription drug purchases. Our results indicate that attitudes significantly influence beneficiaries' decisions to purchase supplemental insurance and specific benefits with effects that are comparable in magnitude to those of self-reported health measures, education, and asset income.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: a national health information resource.

This article describes the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the third in a series of nationally representative surveys of medical care use and expenditures sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The MEPS is designed to provide extensive data on the types of health care services American use, how frequently they use them, how much is paid for the services, and who pays for them. It also will provide information on the types and costs of private health insurance available to the U.