Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar:70:102278.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102278. Epub 2019 Dec 26.

The effects of medicare advantage on opioid use

Laurence C Baker  1 , M Kate Bundorf  1 , Daniel P Kessler  2
Affiliations

The effects of medicare advantage on opioid use

Laurence C Baker et al. J Health Econ. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Despite a vast literature on the determinants of prescription opioid use, the role of health insurance plans has received little attention. We study how the form of Medicare beneficiaries' drug coverage affects the volume of opioids they consume. We find that enrollment in Medicare Advantage, which integrates drug coverage with other medical benefits, significantly reduces beneficiaries' likelihood of filling an opioid prescription, as compared to enrollment in a stand-alone drug plan. Approximately half of this effect was due to fewer fills from prescribers who write a very large number of opioid prescriptions.

Keywords: Medicare advantage; Opioid use.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Afendulis CC, Chernew ME, Kessler DP. The effect of Medicare Advantage on hospital admissions and mortality. Am J Health Econ 2017;3(2):254–79.
    1. AHIP. Medicare Advantage Demographics Report, 2016. Available at https://www.ahip.org/wp-content/uploads/MA_Demographics_Report_2019.pdf, accessed October 3, 2019.
    1. Baker LC. HMOs and fee for service health care expenditures: evidence from Medicare. Journal of Health Economics 1997;16(4): 453–81. - PubMed
    1. Bao Y, Wen K, Johnson P, Jen PJ, Meisel ZF, et al. Assessing the Impact of State Policies For Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on High-Risk Opioid Prescriptions. Health Aff. 2018;37(10):1596–1604. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnett ML, Olenski AR, Thygeson NM, Ishisaka D, Wong S, Jena AB, et al. A health plan’s formulary led to reduced use of extended-release opioids but did not lower overall opioid use. Health Aff. 2018;37(9):1509–16. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources