The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples

Jeannette Rogowski and Kanika Kapur

Open Access publications from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Health insurance; Joint retirement; Insurance, Health; Retirees--Health and hygiene; Married people--Retirement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2007-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Published in: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 60(3) 2007-04

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/257 Open Access version, 2007 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Role of Health Insurance in Joint Retirement among Married Couples (2007)
Working Paper: The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/257

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