Healthcare Economist January 5, 2022
New pharmaceutical products aim to help individuals live longer, healthier lives. However, when new drugs come to market, they are typically indicated for a specific disease. In the real world, however, many individuals face multiple conditions. In fact, 57% of Americans have 2 or more medical conditions and 27% have 5 or more medical conditions.
To estimate the impact of new pharmaceuticals, a recent NBER paper by Lichtenberg (2021) uses 1998- 2015 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. Data on the FDA approval years of drugs (including their Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical [ATC] codes) were obtained from DrugCentral 2021.
The key econometric strategy is to examine changes in the likelihood of disability, receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance,...