Does concentration change with population aging and other demographic changes?
Many suggest that the aging of the U.S. population—in particular, the greater number of Americans living past age seventy-five, eighty-five, or even longer—contributes to health care cost increases. The prevalence of many chronic conditions, such as heart disease, increases greatly with age. If the proportion of people with costly chronic conditions increases, the concentration of expenditures might be expected to decrease. However, we found no evidence that this was the case. We reweighted the 1996 MEPS data to reflect the U.S. population in 2003 in terms of age composition and found no change in the concentration for 1996. Similarly, we also tested for the impacts of growth in the Hispanic population, migration between regions, and changes in health insurance coverage between 1996 and 2003; again, we found that this did not change the concentration in 1996. Over relatively short periods of time, such as the seven years between 1996 and 2003, the aggregate composition of the populatio
Many suggest that the aging of the U.S. population—in particular, the greater number of Americans living past age seventy-five, eighty-five, or even longer—contributes to health care cost increases. The prevalence of many chronic conditions, such as heart disease, increases greatly with age. If the proportion of people with costly chronic conditions increases, the concentration of expenditures might be expected to decrease. However, we found no evidence that this was the case. We reweighted the 1996 MEPS data to reflect the U.S. population in 2003 in terms of age composition and found no change in the concentration for 1996. Similarly, we also tested for the impacts of growth in the Hispanic population, migration between regions, and changes in health insurance coverage between 1996 and 2003; again, we found that this did not change the concentration in 1996. Over relatively short periods of time, such as the seven years between 1996 and 2003, the aggregate composition of the populatio
