A key aspect of many medications is that they not only help people feel better, but often these medications can help them re-enter the workforce, work longer hours, work more productively, or all of the above. However, when evaluating new treatments for diseases affecting older Medicare beneficiaries (≥65 years), should we consider impacts on productivity?
The first question to ask is what proportion of people age 65 and older are actually in the labor force. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that 26.6% of people ages 65 to 74 and 8.2% of people ages 10 to 12 are in the labor force.
≥75 years are in the workforce. Data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) indicate that “7.5 percent of beneficiaries “They enrolled only in Part A, which includes people age 65 or older who are still employed and may be covered by employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).”
Medicare beneficiaries also earn significant incomes. The median income for Medicare beneficiaries is $36,000 overall and $37,800 for Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older. However, these figures include income from all sources (e.g., investments, Social Security) in addition to wage income.
Many studies do not consider the impact of new drugs on non-commercial work, such as volunteering. However, a study by Grinshteyn and Sugar (2021) A study based on data from the 2008-2018 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) found that 33.2% of older Americans had volunteered in the past year.
In short, while the productivity impacts on older people are likely to be smaller than those on working-age people, they should not be ignored entirely.
