@article {8817, title = {Health Effects of Short-Term Fluctuations in Macroeconomic Conditions: The Case of Hypertension for Older Americans.}, journal = {Health Econ}, volume = {25 Suppl 2}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 11}, pages = {113-125}, abstract = {

We investigate the health effects of short-term macroeconomic fluctuations as described by changes in unemployment rate, house, and stock market price indexes. The {\textquoteright}Great Recession{\textquoteright} provides the opportunity to conduct this analysis as it involved contemporaneous shocks to the labor, housing, and stock markets. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study over the period 2004-2010, we relate changes in hypertension status to changes in state-level unemployment rate and house prices and to changes in stock market prices. We consider hypertension, a disease related to stress and of high prevalence among older adults, that has received little attention in the literature linking macroeconomic conditions to individual health. Our analysis exploits self-reports of hypertension diagnosis as well as directly measured blood pressure readings. Using both measures, we find that the likelihood of developing hypertension is negatively related to changes in house prices. Also, decreasing house prices lower the probability of stopping hypertension medication treatment for individuals previously diagnosed with the condition. We do not observe significant associations between hypertension and either changes in unemployment rate or stock market prices. We document heterogeneity in the estimated health effects of the recession by gender, education, asset ownership, and work status. Copyright {\textcopyright} 2016 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.

}, keywords = {Aged, Commerce, Economic Recession, Female, Health Status, Humans, Hypertension, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Socioeconomic factors, Stress, Psychological, Surveys and Questionnaires, Unemployment, United States}, issn = {1099-1050}, doi = {10.1002/hec.3374}, url = {http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/hec.3374https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002\%2Fhec.3374http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/hec.3374/fullpdf}, author = {Marco Angrisani and Jinkook Lee} } @article {7088, title = {Why don{\textquoteright}t people buy long-term-care insurance?}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, volume = {61}, year = {2006}, month = {2006 Jul}, pages = {S185-93}, publisher = {61B}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article was to assess the determinants of an individual{\textquoteright}s decision to purchase long-term-care (LTC) insurance. This article focuses on the decision to purchase a new policy as opposed to renewing an existing policy. This study gave special consideration to the role of policy price, the savings associated with buying a policy now as opposed to later, the purchaser{\textquoteright}s education, and the purchaser{\textquoteright}s income.

METHODS: Using data from the 2002 Health and Retirement Survey, we estimated logistic regressions to model consumer decisions to purchase LTC insurance. We explored several alternative measures of the price of a policy.

RESULTS: Price was a significant determinant in decisions to purchase coverage. The demand for coverage, however, was price inelastic, with elasticities ranging from -0.23 to -0.87, depending on the specification of the model. The education level and income of the purchaser were also important.

DISCUSSION: This analysis provides the first estimates of price elasticity of demand for LTC insurance. The finding that demand is very price inelastic suggests that state initiatives that effectively subsidize premiums as a way of stimulating purchases are likely to meet with very limited success in the present environment.

}, keywords = {Aged, Choice Behavior, Commerce, Decision making, Demography, Female, Humans, Insurance, Health, Long-term Care, Male, Middle Aged, United States}, issn = {1079-5014}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/61.4.s185}, author = {Cramer, Anne Theisen and Gail A Jensen} }