Alan Sule, Crossley Thomas F, Grootendorst Paul, Veall Michael R
Department of Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada.
J Health Econ. 2002 Sep;21(5):805-26. doi: 10.1016/s0167-6296(02)00012-7.
Between 1970 and 1986, all Canadian provinces introduced some version of a prescription drug subsidy for those aged 65 years or over and since 1986, all the provinces have increased copayments or deductibles to some degree. Employing a first-order approximation to the welfare gains from a subsidy, we find evidence that these subsidies have been less redistributive than an absolute per household cash transfer but slightly more redistributive than a transfer that would increase each household's income by the same percentage. Such evidence may have relevance for predicting the redistributive effects of a potential national prescription drug plan for seniors in the US.
1970年至1986年间，加拿大所有省份都针对65岁及以上老年人推出了某种形式的处方药补贴，自1986年以来，所有省份都在一定程度上提高了自付费用或免赔额。利用对补贴带来的福利收益的一阶近似，我们发现有证据表明，这些补贴的再分配作用不如每户绝对现金转移，但比按相同百分比增加每户收入的转移略具再分配性。这些证据可能有助于预测美国一项潜在的全国老年人处方药计划的再分配效果。
