This paper analyzes the effects on retirement of employer provided health benefits to workers and retirees. Retiree health benefits delay retirement until age of eligibility, and then accelerate it. With a base case of no retiree health coverage, granting retiree health coverage to all those with employer coverage while working accelerates retirement age by less than one month. Valuing benefits at costs of private health insurance to unaffiliated individuals, rather than at group rates, increases the effect. Ignoring retiree health benefits in retirement models creates only a small bias. Changing health insurance policies has a small effect on retirement.
*Published:
Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol 48, no 1, pp 124-140
You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format
from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.
Machine-readable bibliographic record -
MARC,
RIS,
BibTeX
