Plausibly Exogenous [925] - Inpatient and Outpatient (08/11/2022)
LHS Variable
Hospital admissions
RHS Variable
Outpatient spending
Source of Exogenous Variation
Changes in insurance plan features that affect only outpatient care with the most important feature being a unique benefit design in which funds contained in a savings account (more precisely a health reimbursement arrangement or HRA) can be used only to pay for outpatient and pharmacy services, and not inpatient care and outpatient surgery services
- Kaestner and Lo Sasso (2015), “Does seeing the doctor more often keep you out of the hospital?”