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The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples

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  • Jeannette Rogowski
  • Kanika Kapur

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeannette Rogowski & Kanika Kapur, 2007. "The role of health insurance in joint retirement among married couples," Open Access publications 10197/257, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/257
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/257
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David M. Blau & Donna B. Gilleskie, 2001. "Retiree Health Insurance and the Labor Force Behavior of Older Men in the 1990s," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 64-80, February.
    2. David M. Blau & Donna B. Gilleskie, 2006. "Health insurance and retirement of married couples," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 935-953, November.
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    6. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 1994. "Retirement in a Family Context: A Structural Model for Husbands and Wives," NBER Working Papers 4629, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bradley Heim & Ithai Lurie & Kosali Simon, 2018. "Did the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Analysis Using Tax Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 71(5), pages 1154-1178, October.
    2. Joshua Congdon-Hohman, 2013. "Love, Toil, and Health Insurance: Why American Husbands Retire When They Do," Working Papers 1115, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    3. Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours Outcomes: Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity with Differences-in-Differences," IZA Discussion Papers 6791, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Olsson, Martin & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2010. "Insured by the partner?," Working Paper Series 2010:3, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    5. David Yaskewich, 2015. "Dependent Health Insurance Laws and College Enrollment: Is There Evidence of College Lock?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 557-569, December.
    6. Bradley Heim & Ithai Lurie & Kosali Simon, 2015. "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Tax Data," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 133-157.
    7. Berangere Legendre & Annaig-C. Pedrant & Mareva Sabatier, 2018. "Should I stay or should I go? An econometric analysis of retirement decisions by couples," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(53), pages 5814-5829, November.
    8. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes : Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," SciencePo Working papers Main halshs-00755648, HAL.
    9. James Marton & Stephen A. Woodbury, 2013. "Retiree Health Benefits as Deferred Compensation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 41(1), pages 64-91, January.
    10. Dhaval Dave & Sandra L. Decker & Robert Kaestner & Kosali I. Simon, 2015. "The Effect of Medicaid Expansions in the Late 1980s and Early 1990s on the Labor Supply of Pregnant Women," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 1(2), pages 165-193, Spring.
    11. Vipul Bhatt, 2017. "Cohort Differences in Joint Retirement: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 475-495, December.
    12. Julian Vedeler Johnsen & Kjell Vaage & Alexander Willén, 2022. "Interactions in Public Policies: Spousal Responses and Program Spillovers of Welfare Reforms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 834-864.
    13. Håkan Selin, 2017. "What happens to the husband’s retirement decision when the wife’s retirement incentives change?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(3), pages 432-458, June.
    14. Warren, Diana A., 2015. "Retirement decisions of couples in Australia: The impact of spousal characteristics and preferences," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 149-162.
    15. Cetin, Sefane & Jousten, Alain, 2022. "Retirement Decision of Belgian Couples and the Impact of the Social Security System," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2022024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    16. Bender, Keith A. & Mavromaras, Kostas & Theodossiou, Ioannis & Wei, Zhang, 2014. "The Effect of Wealth and Earned Income on the Decision to Retire: A Dynamic Probit Examination of Retirement," IZA Discussion Papers 7927, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes: Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12074, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    18. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes : Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," Post-Print halshs-00755648, HAL.
    19. Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2016. "Couples' Retirement under Individual Pension Design: A Regression Discontinuity Study for France," IZA Discussion Papers 10322, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Hanne Preter & Dorien Looy & Dimitri Mortelmans, 2015. "Retirement Timing of Dual-Earner Couples in 11 European Countries? A Comparison of Cox and Shared Frailty Models," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 396-407, September.
    21. Diana Warren, 2013. "Retirement Decisions of Couples: The Impact of Spousal Characteristics and Preferences on the Timing of Retirement," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2013n41, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    22. Joshua Congdon-Hohman, 2015. "Love, Toil, And Health Insurance: Why American Husbands Retire When They Do," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 33(1), pages 118-140, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health insurance; Joint retirement; Insurance; Health; Retirees--Health and hygiene; Married people--Retirement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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