Table 6.

Impact of Medicare on Insurance and Spending by Education Group in the MEPS 2007–2010

	Medicare’s impact by educational attainment
	Less than 12 years of education		12 years of education		More than 12 years of education
Dependent variable	Any coverage	2+ plans	Any coverage	2+ plans	Any coverage	2+ plans
Panel A. Insurance coverage and generosity
Age 65+	0.234** (0.023)	0.433** (0.047)	0.145** (0.016)	0.548** (0.027)	0.085** (0.010)	0.654** (0.024)
Mean pre-65	0.71	0.09	0.84	0.06	0.91	0.05
Relative effect	32.96	481.11	17.26	913.33	9.34	1,308
Observations	7,603	7,603	10,524	10,524	15,164	15,164
Dependent variable	Total spending	OOP spending	Total spending	OOP spending	Total spending	OOP spending
Panel B. Total and out-of-pocket (OOP) spending
Age 65+	1,470 (1,356)	−29 (99)	−2,484* (1,423)	−326** (102)	−3,230** (986)	−378*** (154)
Mean pre-65	6,221	707	6,333	895	6,372	1,119
Relative effect	23.62	−4.17	−39.22	−36.42	−50.69	−33.78
Observations	7,603	7,603	10,524	10,524	15,164	15,164

Notes: Panel A considers the likelihood of any coverage (columns 1, 3, and 5) or the likelihood of 2 or more policies (columns 2, 4, and 6). Panel B considers total spending (columns 1, 3, and 5) or out-of-pocket spending (columns 2, 4, and 6). Across all outcomes, the first two columns are for those with less than 12 years of education, the third and fourth columns are for those with exactly 12 years of education, and the last two columns are for those with more than 12 years of education. All regressions include a constant, an indicator for ages 65 and above, and a quadratic in age in quarters that is allowed to vary on either side of age 65. Standard errors are clustered by age in quarters.

^***Significant at the 1 percent level.

^**Significant at the 5 percent level.

^*Significant at the 10 percent level.

Source: Data are from the 2007–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and include respondents aged 50 to 80.