Sicker and Poorer: The Consequences of Being Uninsured for People With Disability During the Medicare Waiting Period

Health Services Research & Managerial Epidemiology

NaYin¹ 

关键词: Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries;    Medicare waiting period;    difference-in-difference;    Affordable Care Act;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2333392815571583

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

Purpose:Disabled individuals younger than 65 years are entitled to Medicare coverage through the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program, but only if they have completed a 2-year waiting period. This is the first study that uses longitudinal panel data, the Health and Retirement Study, and examines whether and to what extent the health and economic status are affected among disability beneficiaries who are uninsured during the Medicare waiting period.Methods:In a quasiexperiment research design, using a difference-in-difference (diff-in-diff) estimator, we compare changes in health and economic outcomes pre-/postentering the DI program for disability beneficiaries with alternative public health insurance and those without.Results:The adjusted diff-in-diff estimates suggest that disability beneficiaries who are uninsured during the waiting period, compared to those who are insured, are 13.6 percentage point more likely to report poor health, 6.3 percentage point less likely to be in excellent hea...

【 授权许可】

CC BY