Providing Health Care Benefits in Retirement

Providing Health Care Benefits in Retirement PDF

Author: Judith F. Mazo

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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This volume, from the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School, highlights many of the special health insurance problems facing the elderly and some of the solutions that any reform process must consider.

Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector

Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector PDF

Author: Robert L. Clark

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1849808139

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While retiree health plans are a dying benefit in the private sector, all US states and many local governments extend health insurance coverage to their retired employees. This book is the first to thoroughly examine public sector health insurance plans. Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector provides a detailed description of the current plans offered and compares how they vary across states. Health insurance is an important component of compensation in the public sector as it helps governments attract and retain quality workers and encourages timely retirement for career employees. Rapidly rising medical costs, an aging labor force, and an increasing number of retirees have dramatically increased the cost of providing this benefit. A central theme of this analysis is a presentation of the actuarial accrued liabilities, the unfunded liabilities and the annual required contribution of the employers based on the actuarial statements for retiree health plans. The authors alsoinvestigate why some states face major funding problems while the costs of other states? plans are much more manageable. Extensively researched and well-suited for classroom and professional use alike, academics in the fields of economics and public policy will find this an unmatched resource. So too will policymakers, economists, legislators, public sector union leaders and those invested in public sector healthcare.

Health Insurance and Early Retirement

Health Insurance and Early Retirement PDF

Author: Jonathan Gruber

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

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Although the vast majority of working individuals aged 55-64 receive health insurance coverage through their employment, many of these individuals face the prospect of losing such coverage should they retire before becoming eligible for guaranteed public coverage through Medicare at age 65. Because the expected medical expenses of this group are large and uncertain, the availability of health insurance coverage after retirement could be a key factor in the retirement decision of older workers. We examine the effect of health insurance on retirement by looking at variation in state and federal 'continuation of coverage' mandates, laws which allow individuals to continue purchasing health insurance through a previous employer for a specified number of months after leaving the firm. By allowing individuals to maintain their employer-provided health insurance after retirement, these laws decrease the cost of early retirement for those who do not have other retiree health insurance available. Using data on 55-64 year old men from the Current Population Survey, we find that one year of continuation benefits increases the probability of being retired by 1 percentage point; this represents a 5.4 percent increase in the baseline probability of being retired for this group. We also find that continuation mandates increase the likelihood of being insured after retirement.

Health Insurance Availability and the Retirement Decision

Health Insurance Availability and the Retirement Decision PDF

Author: Jonathan Gruber

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13:

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Because individuals aged 55-64 face large and uncertain medical expenditures without the guarantee of public insurance coverage provided by Medicare, the availability of post-retirement health insurance could be an important determinant in the retirement decisions of this group. We investigate the effect of health insurance on retirement by focusing on state and federal "continuation of coverage" mandates which grant the retiree the right to continue purchasing health insurance through a previous employer for a specified number of months after leaving the firm. We exploit variation in the timing and generosity of these laws to identify the effect of the availability of continuation coverage on retirement decisions, using data on 55-64 year-old males from the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We find a sizeable and significant effect of continuation coverage on retirement; one year of mandated continuation benefits raises retirement rates by 20%. The effect appears to be uniform at all ages rather that larger near the age of Medicare eligibility. There is also a large increase in the insurance coverage of individuals who would have retired in the absence of continuation benefits. Our findings have important implications for policies which change the insurance coverage of early retirees, such as national health insurance.

Care Without Coverage

Care Without Coverage PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-06-20

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0309083435

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Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash.

Medicare Made Easy

Medicare Made Easy PDF

Author: Joshua Mungavin

Publisher: Josh Mungavin

Published: 2018-08-06

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0463787161

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Enrolling in Medicare is like being blindfolded and asked to navigate a maze you've never seen before with a crowd all yelling out different directions to you. All the while knowing the consequences of a wrong decision can last a lifetime. Medicare Made Easy breaks down each component of Medicare and walks you through, step by step, providing the resources you need along the way. With basic definitions and extensive information, this book compiles the most valuable information into one easy to read place. Everything you need to know about Medicare is at your disposal. This book dives into the difference between: • What You Need to Know About Medicare • General Medicare Overview • Medicare Part A • Medicare Part B • Medigap • Medicare Advantage • Structuring Income for Medicare Purposes • PACE Coverage • Medicare Appeals • Where to Go for Extra Information Employing the strategies in this book can help you save tens of thousands of dollars in premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and prescription drugs. Once you've gone through the steps outlined here you will know you have done what you need to do to make the most of your benefits, and you'll be confident in your choices or at least know the right questions to ask.

The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance

The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance PDF

Author: Paul Zane Pilzer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-11-06

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1119012139

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How to save 20 to 60 percent on health insurance! The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance is a comprehensive guide to utilizing new individual health plans to save 20 to 60 percent on health insurance. This book is written to ensure that you, your family, and your company get your fair share of the trillions of dollars the U.S. government will spend subsidizing individual health insurance plans between now and 2025. You will learn how to navigate the Affordable Care Act to save money without sacrificing coverage, and how to choose the plan that offers exactly what you, your family and your company need. Over the next 10 years, 100 million Americans will move from employer-provided to individually purchased health insurance. The purpose of The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance is to show you how to profit from this paradigm shift while helping you, your family, and your employees get better and safer health insurance at lower cost. It will help you save thousands of dollars per person each year and protect you from the greatest threat to your financial future—our nation's broken employer-provided health insurance system. We are at the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way businesses offer employee health benefits and the way Americans get health insurance—a shift from an employer-driven defined benefit model to an individual-driven defined contribution model. This parallels a similar shift in employer-provided retirement benefits that took place two to three decades ago from defined benefit to defined contribution retirement plans. Written by a world-renowned economist and New York Times best-selling author, this insightful guide explains how individual health insurance offers more to employees than employer-provided plans. Using the techniques outlined in this book, you and your employer will save money on health insurance by migrating from employer-provided health insurance coverage to employer-funded individual plans at a total cost that is 20 percent to 60 percent lower for the same coverage. That's $4,000 to $12,000 in savings per year for a family of four for the same hospitals, same doctors, and same prescriptions.