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Public Health Insurance and Household Portfolio Choices: Unraveling Financial “Side Effects” of Medicare

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Abstract

Large, unpredictable and not fully insurable health-care costs represent a source of background risk that might deter households’ financial risk taking. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study and fixed-effects estimation, we test whether universal health insurance, like Medicare for over-65 Americans, shields against this risk promoting stockholding. Households in poor health, who face a higher risk of medical expenses, are less likely to hold stocks than their healthier counterparts. Yet, this gap is mostly eliminated by Medicare eligibility. Notably, the offsetting is primarily experienced by households without private health insurance over the observation period.

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  • Marco Angrisani & Vincenzo Atella & Marianna Brunetti, 2016. "Public Health Insurance and Household Portfolio Choices: Unraveling Financial “Side Effects” of Medicare," CEIS Research Paper 382, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 07 Feb 2017.
  • Handle: RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:382
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    Cited by:

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    3. Panchalingam, Thadchaigeni, 2020. "Effects of Public Health Insurance Expansions on Consumption Expenditures of Targeted Households," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304513, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Vega, Alejandro & Velli, Evangelia, 2020. "Health and the share of wealth held in risky assets," Umeå Economic Studies 972, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    5. Li, Jingrong & Mi, Xinyu & Zhang, Chenlei & Qin, Yanran, 2024. "Social pension insurance and household risky asset investment: Evidence from China," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 219-233.
    6. Xinxin Ma, 2022. "Social Insurances and Risky Financial Market Participation: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 2957-2975, August.
    7. Si Shi & Yawen Jiang, 2022. "Does supplemental private health insurance incentivize household risky financial asset investment? Evidence from the China Household Financial Survey," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 369-421, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household portfolios; Health status; Medicare; Health insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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