The Effect of Health Insurance on the Health of Middle-Aged Adults
Center on Population Health and Aging
02/1/06 - 07/31/06
Pamela Farley Short, Department of Health Policy and Administration
France Weaver, Center for Health Care and Policy Research
Frank Lawrence, Department of Human Development and Family Studies
This pilot study has two specific aims. The primary aim is to develop a grant proposal to estimate the effect of being uninsured in the years before age 65 on health and health care utilization after age 65 (when the cost of each person's health care is borne largely by Medicare). Short-term and long-term effects of insurance status on health will be estimated by modeling the relationship between longitudinal trajectories of health and health insurance in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). A secondary aim is to share lessons learned from the pilot study with faculty and graduate students at Penn State, who may see opportunities for innovative research in their own areas of study in the analysis of the individual trajectories in the HRS.