Cognition, Medicare Spending and Mortality among the Elderly
Investigators: Helen Levy
Funding: Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging 2009-2010
Cognitive ability is an important predictor of mortality among the elderly. Very little is known at this point about the mechanisms through which cognition affects health outcomes and, in particular, what role the use of medical services plays. Are these gains in longevity achieved through healthier living and less reliance on medical care, or are they the result of informed – but expensive - investments in health? Conditional on length of life and on average annual Medicare spending, do individuals with higher cognitive ability avoid high spending at the end of life, compared to individuals with lower cognitive ability? I propose to use detailed data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), linked to Medicare claims data, to address these questions about the relationship between cognition and Medicare spending among the elderly.
Country of Focus: USA
Subsequent Projects:
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