DP13913 End-of-Life Medical Expenses

Author(s):	Eric Baird French, John Bailey Jones, Elaine Kelly, Jeremy McCauley
Publication Date:	August 2019
Keyword(s):	End of Life, Insurance, medical spending, Savings
JEL(s):	I12, I13
Programme Areas:	Public Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=13913

In this review, we document end-of-life medical spending: its level, composition, funding and contribution to aggregate medical spending, both for the US and abroad. We discuss how end-of-life expenses affects household savings and other financial behaviour such as insurance choices. Lastly, we review economic evidence on the efficacy of medical spending at the end of life, assessing the value of palliative and other care for both longevity and patient satisfaction.