title: Did Medicare Part D reduce mortality?
abstract: We investigate the implementation of Medicare Part D and estimate that this prescription drug benefit program reduced elderly mortality by 2.2% annually. This was driven primarily by a reduction in cardiovascular mortality, the leading cause of death for the elderly. There was no effect on deaths due to cancer, a condition whose drug treatments are covered under Medicare Part B. We validate these results by demonstrating that the changes in drug utilization following the implementation of Medicare Part D match the mortality patterns we observe. We calculate that the value of the mortality reduction is equal to $5 billion per year.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States. Electronic address: jreif@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reif
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D054524:Medicare Part D / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs