Working Paper: NBER ID: w19524
Authors: Maria D. Fitzpatrick
Abstract: Despite the widespread provision of retiree health insurance for public sector workers, little attention has been paid to its effects on employee retirement. This is in contrast to the large literature on health-insurance-induced "job-lock" in the private sector. I use the introduction of retiree health insurance for public school employees in combination with administrative data on their retirement to identify the effects of retiree health insurance. As expected, the availability of retiree health insurance for older workers allows employees to retire earlier. These behavioral changes have budgetary implications, likely making the programs self-financing rather than costly to taxpayers.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H75; I21; I22; J26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| retiree health insurance (TRHIP) (I13) | earlier retirements (J26) |
| retiree health insurance (TRHIP) (I13) | decrease in retirement at age 65 (J26) |
| eligibility for retiree health insurance (TRHIP) (J26) | decreased likelihood of waiting until age 65 to retire (J26) |
| retiree health insurance (TRHIP) (I13) | labor supply elasticity with respect to health insurance availability (J20) |