How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?

TitleHow Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?
Publication TypeReport
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsClark, R, Mitchell, OS
InstitutionCambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research
KeywordsInsurance, Net Worth and Assets, Public Policy, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction
Abstract

Economic theory predicts that employer-provided retiree health insurance benefits crowd-out household wealth accumulation. Nevertheless, there is little research on the impacts of retiree health insurance on wealth accruals, so this paper utilizes a unique data file on three baseline cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how employer-provided retiree health insurance may influence net household wealth among public sector employees, where retiree healthcare benefits are still quite prevalent. We find that most full-time public sector employees who anticipate receiving employer-provided health insurance coverage in retirement save less than their private sector uncovered counterparts.
Endnote Keywords

retiree health insurance/household wealth/Public Sector/employer-provided health insurance
Endnote ID

999999
Citation Key5978