Retirement and healthcare utilization: Evidence from pension eligibility ages in South Korea

Byeung-Kuk Oh

The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2024, vol. 27, issue C

Abstract: This paper investigates how crossing the normal pension eligibility age affects retirement status and healthcare utilization by using the exogenous rule for the public pension benefit and a dataset for the elderly population from South Korea — one of the high-income Asian countries. To overcome selection bias, I rely on a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to compare the outcomes of those barely above and below eligibility age thresholds. By using aggregate measures of healthcare utilization, I find that retirement increases inpatient care utilization, while it has a negative but statistically insignificant effect on outpatient care utilization. These results are qualitatively consistent with the existing evidence in the developing country documenting that retirement positively impacts inpatient care utilization.

Keywords: Pension; Retirement; Healthcare utilization; Regression discontinuity design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 I11 I12 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joecag:v:27:y:2024:i:c:s2212828x23000580

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2023.100498

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