Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-9prln Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-06T09:46:01.267Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Affordable Care Act as retiree health insurance: implications for retirement and Social Security claiming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2018

ALAN L. GUSTMAN ,
THOMAS L. STEINMEIER  and
NAHID TABATABAI
ALAN L. GUSTMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Dartmouth College, 6106 Rockefeller, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA (e-mail: alan.l.gustman@dartmouth.edu)
THOMAS L. STEINMEIER
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
NAHID TABATABAI
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Dartmouth College, 6106 Rockefeller, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on retirement. The first part of the paper is a difference-in-difference analysis of changes in retirement (and retirement expectations) before and after adoption of the ACA. We find no statistically significant evidence that ACA increased the propensity to retire or changed retirement expectations. The second part of the analysis is based on a structural retirement model. For those age 50 at the time ACA was introduced, the overall reduction in full-time work over the age span 54–65 is simulated to be about 0.1 percentage points. Data are from the Health and Retirement Study.

Keywords

Affordable Care ActretirementpensionsSocial Security

Information

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , July 2019 , pp. 415 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aizawa, N. and Fang, H. (2015) Equilibrium Labor Market Search and Health Insurance Reform. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Research Department Working Paper 727. July.Google Scholar
Clark, R. L. (2015) Retiree health insurance and the retirement plans of college and university faculty. Journal of Retirement, 2(Winter): 55–66.Google Scholar
Currie, J. and Madrian, B. C. (1999) Health, health insurance and the labor market. In Ashenfelter, O. and Card, D. (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics 3 (Part C). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, pp. 3309–3416.Google Scholar
French, E. and Jones, J. B. (2011) The effects of health insurance and self-insurance on retirement behavior. Econometrica, 79(3): 693–732.Google Scholar
French, E., von Gaudecker, H.-M. and Jones, J. B. (2017) The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on the Labor Supply, Savings, and Social Security of Older Americans. Expanded but still preliminary version of 2016 Michigan Retirement Research Center Working Paper WP 2016-354.Google Scholar
Gilleskie, D. B. and Blau, D. M. (2006) Health insurance and retirement of married couples. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 21(7): 935–953.Google Scholar
Glickman, M. M. and Hermes, S. (2015) Why retirees claim social security at 62 and how it affects their retirement income: evidence from the health and retirement study. The Journal of Retirement, 2(Winter): 25–39.Google Scholar
Gustman, A. L. and Steinmeier, T. L. (1994) Employer provided health insurance and retirement behavior. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 48(1): 124–140.Google Scholar
Gustman, A. L. and Steinmeier, T. L. (2000) Pensions and retiree health benefits in household wealth: changes from 1969 to 1992. Journal of Human Resources, 35(1): 30–50.Google Scholar
Gustman, A. L. and Steinmeier, T. L. (2015) Effects of social security policies on benefit claiming, retirement and saving. Journal of Public Economics, 129: 51–62.Google Scholar
Gustman, A. L. and Steinmeier, T. L. Forthcoming (2018) The role of health in retirement. Research in Labor Economics, 46, An earlier version appeared in NBER Working Paper 19902, February, 2014.Google Scholar
Henriques, A. M. (2012) How Does Social Security Claiming Respond to Incentives? Considering Husbands’ and Wives’ Benefits Separately. Washington, D.C.: Federal Reserve Board.Google Scholar
Hubbard, R. G., Skinner, J., and Zeldes, S. P. (1995) Precautionary saving and social insurance. Journal of Political Economy, 103(2): 360–399.Google Scholar
Levy, H., Buchmueller, T., and Nikpay, S. (2015) The Effect of Health Reform on Retirement. Michigan Retirement Research Center, Working Paper 2015–329. September.Google Scholar
Madrian, B. C. (1994) The effect of health insurance on retirement. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 25(1): 181–252.Google Scholar
Marton, J. and Woodbury, S. A. (2006) Retiree Health Benefits and Retirement. W.E. Upjohn Institute staff working paper no. 06–128.Google Scholar
Nyce, S., Schieber, S., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S., and Wise, D. A. (2011) Does Retiree Health Insurance Encourage Early Retirement? NBER Working Paper No. 17703. December.Google Scholar
Shoven, J. B. and Slavov, S. N. 2012. The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence. NBER Working Paper No. 17866.Google Scholar
Shoven, J. B. and Slavov, S. N.. (2014) The role of retiree health insurance in the early retirement of public sector employees. Journal of Health Economics, 38(C): 99–108.Google Scholar
Song, J. and Manchester, J. (2007) Have people delayed claiming retirement benefits? Social Security Bulletin, 67(2): 1–23.Google Scholar