The Economic Consequences of Hospital Admissions

We use an event study approach to examine the economic consequences of hospital admissions for adults in two datasets: survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, and hospitalization data linked to credit reports. For non-elderly adults with health insurance, hospital admissions increase out-o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American economic review Vol. 108; no. 2; pp. 308 - 352
Main Authors: Dobkin, Carlos, Finkelstein, Amy, Kluender, Raymond, Notowidigdo, Matthew J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States American Economic Association 01.02.2018
American Economic Assoc
Subjects:
1992-2012
Access to credit
Adults
Bankruptcy
Consumer credit
Credit
Earnings
Health care expenditures
Health care industry
Health insurance
Hospitalization
Income
Income inequality
Older people
Patient admissions
Personal expenditure
Retirement
Social security
Uninsured people
Unpaid
Health insurance
consumer finance
D14
I10
I13
bankruptcy
consumption smoothing
ISSN:0002-8282, 1944-7981
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We use an event study approach to examine the economic consequences of hospital admissions for adults in two datasets: survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, and hospitalization data linked to credit reports. For non-elderly adults with health insurance, hospital admissions increase out-of-pocket medical spending, unpaid medical bills, and bankruptcy, and reduce earnings, income, access to credit, and consumer borrowing. The earnings decline is substantial compared to the out-of-pocket spending increase, and is minimally insured prior to age-eligibility for Social Security Retirement Income. Relative to the insured non-elderly, the uninsured non-elderly experience much larger increases in unpaid medical bills and bankruptcy rates following a hospital admission. Hospital admissions trigger fewer than 5 percent of all bankruptcies in our sample.
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ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981
DOI:10.1257/aer.20161038