Health Inequality Among Older Adults in the US, 1996–2022

This study is part of the NBER International Social Security project and contributes to its exploration of the relationship between pension reforms and inequality in retirement income and health by examining changes in health inequality in the US during a period when Social Security reforms were being phased in. We draw on the RAND longitudinal file of the Health and Retirement Study to examine health inequality for older adults over the period 1996 through 2022. We conceptualize “health inequality” as the relationship between five different health indicators and retirement income, and trace how this relationship has developed over time. We find some evidence for increasing health inequality for women, but no such pattern for men. We also find that both functional and comprehensive health display a steady rise in inequality over time, while the inequality in diagnosed conditions, mental and cognitive health remained stable.