Population aging is not a looming crisis of the futureÑit is already here. The ultimate impact of population aging on our standard of living in the future depends a great deal on how long people choose to work before they retire from the labor force. Here there is reason for optimism. In this...

This paper uses the abrupt changes in health insurance coverage at age 65 arising from the Medicare program eligibility rules to evaluate the impact of insurance status on treatment intensity and health outcomes. Drawing from several million hospital discharge records for the State of...

The authors use the increases in health insurance coverage at age 65 generated by the rules of the Medicare program to evaluate the effects of health insurance coverage on health related behaviors and outcomes. The rise in overall coverage at age 65 is accompanied by a narrowing of disparities...

This paper analyzes a puzzling aspect of retirement behavior known as Òunretirement,Ó in which retirees appear to reverse their retirement decisions and return to work. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, the author shows that nearly 50 percent of retirees follow a...

About one-third of elderly Americans age 65 and older supplements their Medicare health insurance in a private insurance market known as the ÒMedigapÓ market. Prices for Medigap policies vary widely, despite the fact that regulations enacted in 1992 standardized all Medigap policies, thereby...

As health care costs continue to rise, medical expenses have become an increasingly important contributor to financial risk. Economic theory suggests that when background risk rises, individuals will reduce their exposure to other risks. This paper presents a test of this theory by examining the...

The authors present the first estimates of the causal effects of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) receipt on labor supply that are generalizable to the entire population of program entrants in the present day system. They take advantage of a unique workload management database to...

The authors examine how public and private pension and health insurance systems affect retirement transitions. In many countries, public and private pension eligibility, as well as access to health insurance varies between self-employed and wage and salary workers, and these differences are...