Colleen Marie Carey

Curriculum Vitae

Working Papers

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in SSDI Entry and Health, with Nolan Miller and David Molitor.

Racial disparities in the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program have long been a concern, yet little is known about how the health and entry patterns of DI recipients vary by race and ethnicity. In this paper, we examine trends in the racial/ethnic composition of DI recipients and show how the health of DI entrants and the responsiveness of DI entry to economic conditions and program rules differ across race and ethnicity. Our analysis uses the racial/ethnic categorization in Medicare administrative data, which we first validate against U.S. Census self-reports. We then document the race and ethnicity of all DI recipients since 1992. In examining entry patterns, we find that per capita DI entry is highest among Blacks and lowest among Asians, while illness burden, as measured by medical expenditure and mortality, is lowest among Asians and Hispanics and highest among Blacks and Natives. Additionally, we analyze the effects of poor economic conditions on DI entry for different racial and ethnic subgroups. Finally, we show racial/ethnic variation in the effect of an age-based change in the program’s eligibility rules, finding that the impact of relaxing the eligibility rules at ages 50 and 55 is largest among Natives and smallest among Asians. 

• • Coverage: Bulletin on Retirement and Disability

Publications

• Carey, Colleen, Nolan Miller, and David Molitor. Forthcoming. "Why Does Disability Increase During Recessions?  Evidence from Medicare". Review of Economics and Statistics.

  • • Coverage: Bulletin on Retirement and Disability

• Cabral, Marika, Colleen Carey, and Jinyeong Son. Forthcoming. "Partial Outsourcing of Public Programs: Evidence on Determinants of Choice in Medicare". Review of Economics and Statistics.

• Cabral, Marika, Colleen Carey, and Sarah Miller. 2025. "The Impact of Provider Reimbursement on Health Care Utilization of Low-Income Individuals: Evidence from Medicare and Medicaid". American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 17(1).

  • Coverage: NBER Digest

  • Finalist for National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation’s 31st Annual Health Care Research Award

• Carey, Colleen, Jing Li, and Michael Daly. 2025. "Nothing for Something: Marketing Cancer Drugs to Physicians Increases Prescribing Without Improving Mortality". Journal of Public Economics.  242.

• Nikpay, Sayeh, John P. Bruno, and Colleen Carey. 2024.  "Recent Court Ruling Could Increase the Size and Administrative Complexity of the 340B Program". Health Affairs Scholar. 12(2).

• Hyland, Megan and Colleen Carey. 2023. "Biosimilars Engage in Low Levels of Direct-to-Physician Marketing Relative to Reference Biologics." Health Affairs Scholar.  1(6).

• Gaddis, S. Michael, Colleen M. Carey, and Nicholas V. DiRago. 2023. "Changes over Time in COVID-19 Vaccination Inequalities in Eight Large U.S. Cities." Socius. 9.  

• Gaddis, S. Michael, Nicholas V. DiRago, Meiying Li, Thalia Tom, Will Schupmann, Yvonne Carrillo, and Colleen Carey. 2022. “COVID-19 Vaccine Rollouts and the Reproduction of Urban Spatial Inequality: Disparities Within Large U.S. Cities in March and April 2021 by Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Composition.” Journal of Urban Health. 

• Carey, Colleen. 2021. "Sharing the Burden of Subsidization: Evidence on Pass-Through from a Subsidy Revision in Medicare Part D." Journal of Public Economics.  198. (ungated)

• Carey, Colleen, Ethan M. J. Lieber, and Sarah M. Miller. 2021.  "Drug Firms' Payments and Physicians' Prescribing Behavior in Medicare Part D," Journal of Public Economics.  197. (ungated )

  • Coverage: Cornell Chronicle 

  • Finalist for National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation’s 27th Annual Health Care Research Award

• Carey, Colleen, Giacomo Meille, and Thomas Buchmueller. 2021. "Provider Compliance With Kentucky’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program’s Mandate To Query Patient Opioid History" Health Affairs. 40(3).

• Carey, Colleen, Sarah M. Miller, and Laura Wherry. 2020. "The Impact of Insurance Expansions on the Already Insured: The Affordable Care Act and Medicare." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 12(4): 288-318.  (ungated)

• Buchmueller, Thomas, Colleen Carey, and Giacomo Meille. 2020. "How Well Do Doctors Know Their Patients? Evidence from a Mandatory Access Prescription Drug Monitoring Program." Health Economics. 29 (9): 957-974.  (ungated)

• Buchmueller, Thomas and Colleen Carey. 2018. "The Effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on Opioid Utilization in Medicare." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 10(1). 

  • Coverage: Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health, The Essential Scan: Top Findings in Health Policy Research

• Carey, Colleen, Anupam B. Jena, and Michael L. Barnett. 2018. "Patterns of Potential Opioid Misuse and Subsequent Adverse Outcomes in Medicare, 2008-2012." Annals of Internal Medicine. doi: 10.7326/M17-3065.

• Carey, Colleen. 2017. "Technological Change and Risk Adjustment: Benefit Design Incentives in Medicare Part D." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 9(1).

  • Finalist for National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation’s 24th Annual Health Care Research Award

• Carey, Colleen and Stephen Shore. 2013. "From the Peaks to the Valleys: Cross-State Evidence on Income Volatility Over the Business Cycle." Review of Economics and Statistics. 95(2): 549-562.

• Buchmueller, Thomas, Colleen Carey, and Helen Levy. 2013. "Will Employers Drop Health Insurance Coverage Because of the Affordable Care Act?" Health Affairs. 32(9): 1522-1530.

• Sommers, Benjamin D., Thomas Buchmueller, Sandra L. Decker, Colleen Carey, and Richard Kronick. 2013. "The Affordable Care Act Has Led To Significant Gains In Health Insurance And Access To Care For Young Adults." Health Affairs. 32(1).