Budgetary Consequences of High Healthcare Spending Across the Life Course

• In Event: 288 - Regular Session. Life Course: 4 Papers on 4 Key Principles

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of high medical spending on household well-being across the life course. Prior sociological research suggests two competing expectations for the budgetary consequences of high healthcare spending, such that excess medical spending could represent either an investment in future well-being or indicate an excessive health burden. We use life course perspectives to reconcile these contradictory expectations, exploring how household medical spending relates to other sorts of expenditures, income, household savings rates, and credit; whether these relationships vary with the age of individuals within households; and how excess medical spending relates to indicators of household well-being. Using household spending data from the 2010 to 2013 Consumer Expenditure Surveys, this paper proposes a series of analyses examining the budgetary consequences of high medical spending for households at three distinct ages (under 45, between 45-65, and over 65). Findings indicate that early in the life course, excess medical expenditures tend to indicate an investment in future household well-being. Later in the life course, however, high medical spending tends to indicate catastrophic health events. These results provide evidence of important differences in the circumstances that surround high medical spending and what excess spending represents for household well-being.

Authors

• Bryce J. Bartlett, Duke University

• Raphael Charron-Chenier, Duke University

• Collin William Mueller, Duke University