All FSI Projects

Health Insurance among the Elderly in Colombia

Researchers

Grant Miller
Investigator
Investigator
Alan Garber
Project Mentor

Relative to other age groups, the elderly are disproportionately likely to become seriously ill and to face burdensome medical expenditures.  Many middle-income countries like Colombia have begun experimenting with targeted public-sector health insurance.  By exploiting discontinuities in eligibility formulas for health insurance subsidies, this project evaluated the consequences of a large targeted health insurance program for the well-being of the elderly in Colombia.  The investigator presented his findings at a Research in Progress seminar in April 2008, and at the University of Chicago in June 2008. A publication, “Risk Protection, Service Use, and Health Outcomes Under Colombia's Health Insurance Program for the Poor”, is currently in press with the American Economic Journal.