AN NBER PUBLICATION
ISSUE: No. 2, September 2019
The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability
Summarizes research in the NBER's Retirement and Disability Research Center. A quarterly, it is distributed digitally and is free

The Social Security Administration (SSA) convened its 2019 Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC) Meeting August 1-2 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Since last year’s meeting, the previously distinct Retirement Research Consortium and Disability Research Consortium merged into a single entity, the RDRC.
In his opening remarks, Mark J. Warshawsky, Deputy Commissioner of Retirement and Disability Policy at SSA, highlighted a 2018...

Article
Public health insurance can be administered directly by the government or provided through private insurance firms. In the US, over 80% of Medicaid beneficiaries and one-third of Medicare beneficiaries receive their benefits through a private health plan. In theory, private provision may result in lower costs, since firms have an incentive to keep spending low in order to maximize profits. One potential concern is that reduced spending may...

Article
Recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits are eligible for Medicare after 24 months of benefit receipt. However, the insurance provided by Medicare to SSDI beneficiaries and the over-age-65 population is incomplete, as there are substantial deductibles and co-insurance requirements, and no lifetime cap on out-of-pocket spending. Many Medicare beneficiaries have another source of insurance to address this. One potential source...
The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability summarizes selected recent Working Papers. It is distributed digitally to economists and other interested persons for informational and discussion purposes. The Bulletin is not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely with attribution of source.
Working Papers produced as part of the NBER's research program are distributed to make preliminary research results available to economists in the hope of encouraging discussion and suggestions for revision before final publication. Neither Working Papers nor issues of the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability are reviewed by the Board of Directors of the NBER.
The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability is edited by Courtney Coile.