{"title":"Medicare Gaps and Widow Poverty","authors":"K. Mcgarry, R. Schoeni","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1092154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1092154","url":null,"abstract":"Several categories of medical expenditures are not covered by Medicare, including prescription drugs, most nursing home stays, and extended hospital visits. Out-of-pocket costs for these items can be substantial, and what’s more, they are likely to be concentrated at the end of life. At the same time, it is well documented that poverty is 3-4 times more common among widows than among similarly aged married women. This study examines the potential link between these two phenomena, asking the question: to what extent do out-of-pocket health care costs of a dying spouse affect the financial position of the survivor? We find that out-of-pocket medical spending increases substantially just prior to death, and that these expenditures are large relative to income for a large share of elderly couples. Simulations investigate the extent to which expansions in insurance coverage to include nursing home care or prescription drug coverage could improve the financial well-being of the surviving spouse.","PeriodicalId":238933,"journal":{"name":"Health Care Delivery & Financing","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2003-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128540728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Poverty, Children's Health, and Health Care Utilization","authors":"B. Wolfe","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1007445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1007445","url":null,"abstract":"This paper was presented at the conference \"Unequal incomes, unequal outcomes? Economic inequality and measures of well-being\" as part of session 1, \"Health status of children and households in poverty.\" The conference was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on May 7, 1999. This paper discusses health as a direct measure of economic well-being and draws attention to those suffering the worst outcomes and the link between poverty and health. According to the author, in 1994 only 10 percent of children under age five in families making $35,000 or more were in less than very good or excellent health. By comparison, one-third of young children in families with income below $10,000 were in less than very good health. Moreover, in recent years the number of poor children whose health is fair or poor has increased relative to the number of nonpoor children in these same health categories. In 1987, for every nonpoor child with health problems, there were close to two children in poverty in poor health; by 1996, that ratio had risen to 2.7.","PeriodicalId":238933,"journal":{"name":"Health Care Delivery & Financing","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124291826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Does the Introduction of Health Insurance Change the Equity in the Health Care Provision in Bulgaria?","authors":"Nora Markova","doi":"10.5089/9781451865455.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451865455.001","url":null,"abstract":"The study examines the effect of health care reform in Bulgaria in 1999 on the equity of health care financing. It explores the distribution of different types of health care financing by income. Furthermore, it separates the financial and social reasons for these differences, dividing them into economic and social inequalities. It suggests a method of distinguishing between financially based and exclusion based reasons for having progressive/regressive health care financing. Moreover, it looks at the social factors that shape health expenditure patterns and identifies those social characteristics that lead to exclusion from the health care system.","PeriodicalId":238933,"journal":{"name":"Health Care Delivery & Financing","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116793772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}