The Economic Consequences of Hospital Admissions

We examine some economic impacts of hospital admissions using an event study approach in two datasets: survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, and hospital admissions data linked to consumer credit reports. We report estimates of the impact of hospital admissions on out-of-pocket medical s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NBER Working Paper Series 2016-05, p.22288
Main Authors: Dobkin, Carlos, Finkelstein, Amy, Kluender, Raymond, Notowidigdo, Matthew J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bankruptcy
Borrowing
Consumer credit
Credit reports
Datasets
Economic impact
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Economics
Estimates
Health economics
Health insurance
Insurance coverage
Labor market
Medicare
Patient admissions
Scholarships & fellowships
Studies
Uninsured people
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Summary:We examine some economic impacts of hospital admissions using an event study approach in two datasets: survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, and hospital admissions data linked to consumer credit reports. We report estimates of the impact of hospital admissions on out-of-pocket medical spending, unpaid medical bills, bankruptcy, earnings, income (and its components), access to credit, and consumer borrowing. The results point to three primary conclusions: non-elderly adults with health insurance still face considerable exposure to uninsured earnings risk; a large share of the incremental risk exposure for uninsured non-elderly adults is borne by third parties who absorb their unpaid medical bills; the elderly face very little economic risk from adverse health shocks.
ISSN:0898-2937
DOI:10.3386/w22288