Essays in Health Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays in health economics. The first essay examines the impact of Medicare's home health benefits on older adults' home health care utilization and living arrangements. The findings show an increase in home health care utilization among less healthy single individuals and a decrease in co-residence among less healthy single Black individuals. No notable changes are observed among other groups. The second essay revisits the RAND Health Insurance Experiment to refine estimates of the price elasticity of demand for medical care. By addressing the confounding effect of an out-of-pocket maximum through a two-part model, the analysis reveals greater sensitivity in households' response to cost-sharing than previously reported. The third essay investigates the short-term impacts of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on households' labor supply and consumption. The findings show that NCDs reduce affected individuals' labor supply and earned income, while spousal labor supply remains unchanged. Affected households initially increase medical expenditures and subsequently reduce non-medical spending.