Financial disparities in prescription drug use between elderly and nonelderly Americans.
This study examines cross-sectional disparities in the financial burden of prescription drug use among U.S. elderly and nonelderly adult populations, using data from the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Out-of-pocket spending for prescriptions, copayment rates, and the proportion of family income spent on prescription drugs were examined to compare elderly people with working-age adults. Even after utilization or need was adjusted for, financial disparities were still observed between elderly and nonelderly adult populations. In particular, low-income elderly people were worse off than were nonelderly adults in the same poverty class and their elderly peers in other poverty classes.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States