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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of diabetes, patient age, and health insurance on the number of prescription and non‐prescription drugs mentioned (ordered or provided) per physician visit in the USA.

The National Center for Health Statistics annually conducts three surveys about ambulatory care physician visits: the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey – outpatient departments, and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey – emergency departments. For this study, the data collected in 2003 and 2004 by these surveys were analyzed with the SAS procedures SURVEYMEANS and SURVEYREG, which can take into account the multistage sample design of these surveys.

Regression analyses show significant effects of diabetes, patient age, and health insurance provider on the number of prescription drug mentions and non‐prescription drug mentions per physician visit. Among adults greater than 18 years old, and even for visits by persons greater than 75 years old, diabetes visits relative to non‐diabetes visits had significantly more prescription drug mentions per visit and significantly more non‐prescription drug mentions per visit physician visits, for both general purposes and diabetes, without insurance coverage had significantly fewer prescription drug mentions per visit than the corresponding visits covered by either private health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Thus, the results show that physicians use more prescription drugs and non‐prescription drugs to manage diabetes visits than non‐diabetes visits and prescribe fewer medications when patients have no insurance than when they have Medicare, Medicaid, or private health insurance.

Results from a nationally representative sample of physician visits in the USA show that physicians order or provide substantially more drugs for diabetes visits. These results suggest that diabetes sharply increases drug consumption. Also, physicians are likely to prescribe more medications to patients who have health insurance relative to patients without health insurance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how nutritional concerns, luxurious tastes, and the value of time affect time allocation decisions for food preparation.

A time allocation model is developed and tested with Tobit and Heckman's sample selection models using the 2003‐2007 American Time Use Survey data.

Individuals concerned more with nutrition or price than luxury devote more time to preparing food‐cooked‐at‐home. High family income and long hours worked increase time allocated to food‐away‐from‐home, indicating that a preference for luxury and the opportunity cost of time outweigh nutritional concerns. High education reduces time spent preparing food‐cooked‐at‐home, yet increases both participation in this activity and time spent obtaining food‐away‐from‐home, suggesting that a preference for luxury and the opportunity cost of time dominate nutritional preference. Time allocation decisions on food preparation vary greatly by race and ethnicity.

The results of this study confirm that the time allocation decisions regarding food preparation are largely affected by an individual's luxury preference, nutritional consciousness, and the value of time, all of which are influenced by education. The findings from this study indicate factors that influence consumers' time allocation decisions regarding food choice and their current food preparation behavior, and thus provide useful insights to nutritionists, dietitians, health practitioners, and policy makers for finding better ways to improve nutritional education, food choices and dietary habits that promote healthier diets and eating habits.