UM07-13: The Effects of Health Insurance and Self-Insurance on Retirement Behavior.
Researchers
Abstract
To assess the role of Medicare and employer-provided health insurance in determining retirement, we will estimate and analyze a dynamic programming model of saving and retirement that accounts for uncertain medical expenses, Social Security, and social insurance. We extend our earlier work by introducing heterogeneous preferences, and by utilizing restricted HRS data to derive better estimates of Social Security and pension wealth. In addition to analyzing the current Medicare and Social Security programs, we will use the model to estimate responses to changes such as raising the normal Social Security retirement age and/or the Medicare eligibility age to 67.