TY - RPRT T1 - Do Health Problems Reduce Consumption at Older Ages? Y1 - 2009 A1 - Barbara A Butrica A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Mermin, Gordon B.T. KW - Healthcare KW - Medicare/Medicaid/Health Insurance AB - High out-of-pocket health care costs may have serious repercussions for older people and their families. If their incomes are not sufficient to cover these expenses, older adults with health problems may have to deplete their savings, turn to family and friends for financial help, or forego necessary care. Or they may be forced to reduce their consumption of other goods and services to pay their medical bills. This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the related Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) to examine the impact of health problems at older ages on out-of-pocket health care spending and other types of expenditures. The analysis estimates fixed effects models of total out-of-pocket health care spending, out-of-pocket health care spending exclusive of premiums, total spending on all items except health care, and total spending on all items except health care and housing. The models are estimated separately for households ages 65 and older and those ages 51 to 64. The results show that medical conditions increase health spending, particularly for households ages 51 to 64, but that health conditions do not generally reduce nonhealth spending. Medical conditions do, however, reduce nonhealth spending for low-income households ages 51 to 64, suggesting that holes in the health safety net before the Medicare eligibility age force some low-income people to lower their living standards to cover medical expenses. JF - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College Working Papers PB - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College CY - Boston UR - https://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/do-health-problems-reduce-consumption-at-older-ages/ U4 - HEALTH-CARE COSTS/Medical Expenditures ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Why Do Boomers Plan to Work Longer? JF - The Journals of Gerongology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Y1 - 2007 A1 - Mermin, Gordon B.T. A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Daniel P. Murphy KW - Employment and Labor Force KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction AB - OBJECTIVE: Recent changes in retirement trends and patterns have raised questions about the likely retirement behavior of baby boomers, the large cohort born between 1946 and 1964. This study examined recent changes in retirement expectations and the factors that drove them. METHODS: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, the analysis compared self-reported probabilities of working full time past ages 62 and 65 among workers aged 51 to 56 in 1992 and 2004. The study modeled retirement expectations for both generations and used the estimated regression coefficients to identify the forces that accounted for generational differences. RESULTS: Between 1992 and 2004, the mean self-reported probability of working full time past age 65 among workers aged 51 to 56 increased from 27 to 33 . Lower rates of retiree health insurance offers from employers, higher levels of educational attainment, and lower rates of defined benefit pension coverage accounted for most of the growth. DISCUSSION: Given the continued erosion in employer-sponsored retiree health benefits and defined benefit pension plans, boomers will likely remain at work longer than members of the previous generation. Lengthier careers will likely promote economic growth, increase government revenue, and improve individual financial security at older ages. PB - 62 VL - 62 UR - http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/ IS - 5 U4 - Job Characteristics/Labor Force Participation/RETIREMENT ER - TY - RPRT T1 - How Secure Are Retirement Nest Eggs? Y1 - 2006 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Mermin, Gordon B.T. A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Adult children KW - Consumption and Savings KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - Life s uncertainties can upend the best-laid retirement plans. Health can fail as people grow older, or their spouses can become ill. Older people can lose their jobs, and often have trouble finding new ones. Marriages can end in widowhood or divorce. Health, employment, and marital shocks near retirement can have serious financial repercussions, raising out-of-pocket medical spending, reducing earnings, disrupting retirement saving, and forcing people to dip prematurely into their nest eggs. This brief examines different types of negative events that can strike near retirement. It reports the incidence of widowhood, divorce, job layoffs, disability, and various medical conditions over a 10-year period, and estimates their impact on household wealth. Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of older Americans conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Aging. The survey interviewed a large sample of non-institutionalized adults ages 51 to 61 in 1992 and re-interviewed them every other year. The analysis uses data through 2002, the most recent year available. The results show that many people in their 50s and 60s experience negative shocks that threaten retirement security. Job layoffs, divorce, and the onset of work disabilities near retirement substantially erode retirement savings. The findings highlight the limitations of the safety net when things go wrong in late midlife. PB - Boston College, Center for Retirement Research UR - http://www.bc.edu/centers/crr/ib_45.shtml U4 - Retirement Saving/Health Shocks/Divorce/Widowhood ER -