Response to McWilliams commentary: 'Assessing the health effects of medicare coverage for previously uninsured adults: A matter of life and death?'

摘要

In an accompanying Commentary in this issue of Health Services Research, McWilliams et al. (2010) present a survival analysis of mortality using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). They find that, as the years on Medicare accumulate, the risk of death attenuates for seniors who were uninsured before becoming eligible for Medicare relative to the risk of death for seniors who were insured previously. This is an interesting new finding using the HRS that is motivated by the idea that, while the induced medical use as a result of insurance coverage can ultimately save lives, it might take time before the effects are realized.