Prolonged hospital stays, or hospital stays that are longer than medically necessary, are a major concern for patients, payers, and providers. We conceptualize and empirically estimate the prevalence and cost of prolonged stays among elderly hospital patients (65 years and older) in Brazil and...

Background: Assessing the impact of cost sharing on healthcare utilization is a critical issue in health economics and health policy. It may affect the utilization of different services, but is yet to be well understood. Objective: This paper investigates the effects of reducing cost sharing for...

Targeted treatments of newborns with delicate health stocks have been shown to have considerable returns in terms of survival and later life outcomes. We seek to determine to what degree such treatments are transmitted across generations. We follow three generations of linked micro-data from...

This study aims to estimate the potential economic benefts of healthy ageing by obtaining estimates of the economic losses generated by functional limitations among middle-aged and older people. Utilising two data sources retrieved from nationally representative samples of the Japanese people,...

This paper examines the savings needed to cover health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for health care services in retirement and evaluates the use of health savings accounts (HSAs) to save for those expenses. Proponents of HSAs often tout them as a vehicle for funding future...

The new Medicare drug law that was enacted in late 2003 makes two changes that supporters of the law say should make it easier for today's workers to prepare to pay the medical bills they will confront in retirement: prescription drug benefits (the new Medicare Part D) and health savings...