title: The effect of dental insurance on the use of dental care for older adults: a partial identification analysis.
abstract: We evaluate the impact of dental insurance on the use of dental services using a potential outcomes identification framework designed to handle uncertainty created by unknown counterfactuals-that is, the endogenous selection problem-and uncertainty about the reliability of self-reported insurance status. Using data from the health and retirement study, we estimate that utilization rates of adults older than 50 years would increase from 75% to around 80% under universal dental coverage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kreider
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research, University of Maryland Dental School, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Manski
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research, University of Maryland Dental School, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moeller
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pepper
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: classification errors; dental care; dental insurance; partial identification; selection; treatment effect