Health care for the elderly: How much? Who will pay for it?

Health Affairs

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 11-21

  Fuchs, Victor R ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGED; ARTICLE; ECONOMICS; ELDERLY CARE; EMPLOYMENT; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH SERVICE; HUMAN; INCOME; MALE; MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY; MEDICARE; RETIREMENT; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES;

AGED; EMPLOYMENT; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE COSTS; HEALTH CARE REFORM; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HEALTH SERVICES FOR THE AGED; HEALTH SERVICES NEEDS AND DEMAND; HUMANS; INCOME; MALE; MEDICARE; RETIREMENT; TECHNOLOGY, MEDICAL; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0008178047     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.18.1.11     Document Type: Article

References (18)

1. V.R. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide: The Economics of Aging," in Medicare Reform: Issues and Answers, ed. T.R. Saving and A. Rattenmaier (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming), currently available as National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper no. 6642 (1998). Total health care spending on the aged for 1975, 1985, and 1995 was estimated by applying ratios of total personal health care to Medicare payments as presented in D.R. Waldo et al., "Health Expenditures by Age Group, 1977 and 1987," Health Care Financing Review (Summer 1989): 116-120. Rates of change for 1975-1995 and 1985-1995 were calculated by the author.
2. V.R. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide: The Economics of Aging," in Medicare Reform: Issues and Answers, ed. T.R. Saving and A. Rattenmaier (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming), currently available as National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper no. 6642 (1998). Total health care spending on the aged for 1975, 1985, and 1995 was estimated by applying ratios of total personal health care to Medicare payments as presented in D.R. Waldo et al., "Health Expenditures by Age Group, 1977 and 1987," Health Care Financing Review (Summer 1989): 116-120. Rates of change for 1975-1995 and 1985-1995 were calculated by the author.
3. For 1975-1995 and 1985-1995 the rate of change of health care expenditures on the aged was decomposed into (1) change in the age/sex-specific expenditures per person; (2) change in the number of elderly persons; and (3) change in the age distribution of the elderly. For both time periods the rate of change of age-specific expenditures was more than double the sum of the demographic effects. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide."
4. Ibid. Projections were based on past trends in age/sex-specific expenditures in constant dollars combined with Census Bureau population projections (middle series).
5. Ibid. Income available for other goods and services was defined as total personal income minus personal taxes and personal health care expenditures.
6. V.R. Fuchs and M. McClellan, "Medical Technology and Mortality in an Aging Society" (NBER paper in progress, 1998).
7. V.R. Fuchs, "Economics, Values, and Health Care Reform," American Economic Review (March 1996): 1-24, Table 1.
8. D.J. Morrow, "The Elixirs of Life Style," New York Times, 11 November 1998, Cl.
9. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide."
10. CPS Utilities, March CPS Utilities, 1964-1996, Release 96.1 (1997) (Unicon Research Corporation, 1640 Fifth Street, Santa Monica, California 90401; tel.: 310-393-4636).
11. The actual values at ages forty-five to forty-nine are as follows: average annual hours for all persons, 2,024 for men and 1,439 for women; percentage working, 91 for men and 79 for women; average annual hours for those working, 2,217 for men and 1,817 for women.
12. CPS Utilities.
13. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide."
14. V.R. Fuchs, A.B. Krueger, and J.M. Poterba, "Economists' Views about Parameters, Values, and Policies: Survey Results in Labor and Public Economics," Journal of Economic Literature (September 1998): 1387-1425, Table 2.
15. CPS Utilities.
16. S.F. Venti and D.A. Wise, "The Cause of Wealth Dispersion at Retirement: Choice or Chance?" American Economic Review (May 1998): 185-191.
17. Ibid., 191.
18. Fuchs, "Provide, Provide."