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.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 397-407 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Industrial and Labor Relations Review |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2007 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Strategy and Management
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation