The role of retiree health insurance in the early retirement of public sector employees

John B. Shoven and Sita Slavov

Journal of Health Economics, 2014, vol. 38, issue C, 99-108

Abstract: Most government employees have access to retiree health coverage, which provides them with group health coverage even if they retire before Medicare eligibility. We study the impact of retiree health coverage on the labor supply of public sector workers between the ages of 55 and 64. We find that retiree health coverage raises the probability of stopping full time work by 4.3 percentage points (around 38 percent) over two years among public sector workers aged 55–59, and by 6.7 percentage points (around 26 percent) over two years among public sector workers aged 60–64. In the younger age group, retiree health insurance mostly seems to facilitate transitions to part-time work rather than full retirement. However, in the older age group, it increases the probability of stopping work entirely by 4.3 percentage points (around 22 percent).

Keywords: Retiree health insurance; Retirement; Public sector workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 J2 J3 J4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Chapter: The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in the Early Retirement of Public Sector Employees (2013)
Working Paper: The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in the Early Retirement of Public Sector Employees (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:99-108

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.03.013

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