in nigeria, most farming activities rely on family labor. however, rural-urban drift and the movement of young people away from agriculture are making labor increasingly pause. thus, labor has become a major constraint to expanding the scope of production by small-scale resource poor farmers. this paper provides an empirical relationship between labor and poverty using data from households. thr...

Disenrollment rates from Medicare managed care plans have been reported to the public as an indicator of health plan quality. Previous studies have shown that voluntary disenrollment rates differ among vulnerable subgroups, and that these rates can reflect patient care experiences. We hypothesized that disabled beneficiaries may be affected differently than other beneficiaries by competitive ma...

IMPORTANCE Take-up of the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy (LIS) by eligible beneficiaries has been low despite the attractive drug coverage it offers at no cost to beneficiaries and outreach efforts by the Social Security Administration. OBJECTIVE To examine the role of beneficiaries' cognitive abilities in explaining this puzzle. DESIGN AND SETTING Analysis of survey data from the natio...

OBJECTIVES To examine the association of medication adherence with healthcare use and costs among Medicaid beneficiaries with congestive heart failure (CHF), to investigate whether the association was a graded one, and to estimate the potential savings due to improved adherence. STUDY DESIGN Using Medicare and Medicaid data for 4 states, adherence was estimated using the medication possession...

CONTEXT Emerging technologies, changing diagnostic and treatment patterns, and changes in Medicare reimbursement are contributing to increasing use of imaging in cancer. Imaging is the fastest growing expense for Medicare but has not been examined among beneficiaries with cancer. OBJECTIVE To examine changes in the use of imaging and how those changes contribute to the overall cost of cancer ...

The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of Medicare enrollees. The survey collects information on a variety of topics including beneficiaries' health status. This information is collected from two groups of beneficiaries: those living in the community and those living in facilities. Information is obtained on specific medical...

As Medicare cost increase, policymakers are searching for equitable ways to secure the program's financial base. Proposals that would require higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay a higher proportion of the program's costs are designed to increase beneficiaries' contribution without placing an unacceptable financial burden on those least able to afford it. Designing and implementing suc...