Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2006-11) ;
    This paper examines the role of employer provided health insurance in the retirement decisions of dual working couples. The near elderly have high-expected medical expenditures; therefore, availability of health insurance is an important factor in their retirement decisions. We determine if access to retiree health insurance for early retirement enables couples to time their retirement together – a behavior called “joint retirement.” We find that wives’ retiree health insurance more than doubles the propensity to retire jointly, suggesting that health insurance is an important consideration in coordinating retirement decisions among couples. Even though retiree health insurance has a substantial effect on joint retirement, its effect on overall employment patterns is modest, accounting for a 2 percentage point fall in employment.
      370
  • Publication
    Health insurance transitions after retirement : did HIPAA expand coverage for retirees?
    (University College Dublin; School of Economics, 2006-11) ;
    The near elderly are a vulnerable segment of the population with high-expected medical expenses. Individuals who retire before Medicare eligibility may lose employer provided health insurance, and may face a potentially costly uninsured period. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study from 1992 to 2002 to profile the insurance status of workers who retire. We also evaluate the role of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in reducing the number of uninsured among the near elderly. We find that a relatively small proportion of workers lose health insurance on retirement; however, we find no evidence that HIPAA has helped these workers to remain insured.
      196
  • Publication
    The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples
    (School of Industrial and Labor Relations Cornell University, 2007-04) ;
    Because the near-elderly have high expected medical expenditures, availability of health insurance is an important factor in their retirement decisions. Using Health and Retirement Study data collected in 1992-2002, the authors of this study investigate whether access to employer-provided retiree health insurance enabled dual working couples to time their retirement together--a behavior called "joint retirement." They find that when wives had employer-provided retiree health insurance, the likelihood of joint retirement more than doubled. The effect of retiree health insurance on overall employment patterns, in contrast, was modest: estimates indicate that a hypothetical change from universal availability of such insurance to its universal unavailability would have increased employment levels by only two percentage points.
      710