Medical Care Price Indexes for Patients with Employer-Provided Insurance: Nationally Representative Estimates from MarketScan Data
Medical Care Price Indexes for Patients with Employer-Provided Insurance: Nationally Representative Estimates from MarketScan Data
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DOI：
10.1111/1475-6773.12008
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发表时间：
2013-06-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Shapiro, Adam Hale
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dunn, Abe;Liebman, Eli;Shapiro, Adam Hale
目的通常观察到的医疗保健服务用于治疗疾病的转变可能会给劳动统计局(BLS)的官方价格指数带来问题，因为这些指数没有考虑服务转变。我们考察了这些转变如何导致与劳工统计局官方价格统计中观察到的价格估计不同的价格估计。数据来源我们使用了2003年至2007年MarketScan数据库中雇主提供保险的投保人的方便样本。考虑到参与者的年龄、性别和地理分布的人口权重被分配来构建代表性估计。研究设计我们比较了两种类型的价格指数：(1)服务价格指数(SPI)，它类似于BLS指数，它持有固定的服务，并衡量基础治疗的价格；(2)医疗保健支出指数(MCE)，它衡量治疗疾病的成本，并允许使用转移。主要发现在整个研究期间，SPI的复合年均增长率比首选的MCE指数快0.7个百分点。结论我们的研究结果表明，通货膨胀的健康部分可能被高估了0.7个百分点，而实际GDP增长可能被低估了类似的幅度。然而，可能需要更多的工作来精确复制劳工统计局的指数，以获得对这些价格差异的更准确衡量。
Objective Commonly observed shifts in the utilization of medical care services to treat diseases may pose problems for official price indexes at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that do not account for service shifts. We examine how these shifts may lead to different price estimates than those observed in official price statistics at the BLS. Data Sources We use a convenience sample of enrollees with employer-provided insurance from the MarketScan database for the years 2003 to 2007. Population weights that consider the age, sex, and geographic distribution of enrollees are assigned to construct representative estimates. Study Design We compare two types of price indexes: (1) a Service Price Index (SPI) that is similar to the BLS index, which holds services fixed and measures the prices of the underlying treatments; (2) a Medical Care Expenditure Index (MCE) that measures the cost of treating diseases and allows for utilization shifts. Principal Findings Over the entire period of study the CAGR of the SPI grows 0.7 percentage points faster than the preferred MCE index. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the health component of inflation may be overstated by 0.7 percentage points per year, and real GDP growth may be understated by a similar amount. However, more work may be necessary to precisely replicate the indexes of the BLS to obtain a more accurate measure of these price differences.