Examining risk classification strategies for the development of a measure of medical care economic risk in the United States

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Meier, Sarah K.

Affiliations: Manatt Health, 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA. Tel.: +1 202 585 6579; Fax: +1 202 637 1513; E-mail: smeier@manatt.com

Abstract: In a 1995 the National Research Council released a report that critically examined poverty measurement in the United States and recommended the development of a measure of medical expenditure related economic risk; a 2012 report continued support for such a measure. This study uses the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to examine two alternative strategies for classifying individual-level risk for purposes of developing a loss modeling-based measure of medical care economic risk (MCER). Examining the use of self-perceived health and a DxCG risk score to classify individuals into five levels of risk, the study finds substantial differences in cell-level classification and attributed expenditure risk based on these two strategies. It is suggested that future work in this field move forward with the use of a risk score classification strategy to operationalize the MCER measure.

Keywords: Heath insurance, health expenditures, poverty, health reform

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-160430

Journal: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 289-305, 2016