Download or read book Implications of Health Reform for Retiree Health Benefits written by Paul Fronstin and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines how current health reform legislation being debated in Congress will impact the future of retiree health benefits. The paper also provides background on the impact of private-sector accounting rule changes on the availability of retiree health benefits since the mid-1990s; the more recent impact of public-sector accounting rule changes on retiree health benefits in the public sector; the impact on employment-based retiree health benefits of adding a drug benefit to Medicare; and the potential impact of current health reform legislation on employment-based health benefits for early retirees and Medicare beneficiaries. In general, the proposals' provisions will have a mixed impact on retiree health benefits: In the short term, the reinsurance provisions would help shore up early retiree coverage and Medicare Part D coverage would become more valuable to retirees. In the longer term, insurance reform combined with new subsidies for individuals enrolling for coverage through insurance exchanges, the maintenance-of-effort provision affecting early retiree benefits, increases to the cost of providing drug benefits to retirees, and enhanced Medicare Part D coverage, would all create significant incentives for employers to drop coverage for early retirees and drug coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees. With some exceptions, the House-passed legislation would prohibit employers from changing the benefits offered to retirees and their beneficiaries once a person has retired. This provision could have a number of different effects: More employers may move toward capping their contributions; employers that want to maintain retiree health benefits may react by cutting the health benefits of active workers; employers may eliminate retiree health benefits altogether to avoid being locked into providing a permanent benefit; or they may drop benefits if they think there is no need to provide them.
Download or read book Care Without Coverage written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-06-20 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash.
Download or read book Providing Health Care Benefits in Retirement written by Judith F. Mazo and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, from the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School, highlights many of the special health insurance problems facing the elderly and some of the solutions that any reform process must consider.
Download or read book Health Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-04-02 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two programs that provide benefits based on disability: the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. This report analyzes health care utilizations as they relate to impairment severity and SSA's definition of disability. Health Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination identifies types of utilizations that might be good proxies for "listing-level" severity; that is, what represents an impairment, or combination of impairments, that are severe enough to prevent a person from doing any gainful activity, regardless of age, education, or work experience.
Download or read book Retiree Health Benefits written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Subcommittee on Labor and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Health Care Benefits of Retirees written by Madelon Lubin Finkel and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Erosion of Retiree Health Benefits and Retirement Behavior written by Paul Fronstin and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of retiree health insurance on the decision to retire have not been examined until recently. It is an area of increasing significance because of rising health care costs for retirees, the uncertain future of Medicare, and increased life expectancy. In general, studies suggest that individual retirement decisions are strongly responsive to the availability of retiree health insurance. Early retiree benefits and retirement behavior are also important because they may affect the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program. It is not apparent that if a person loses retiree health benefits, or if fewer people are eligible for retiree health benefits in general, claims for DI will increase. The potential 2-year loss of health benefits may be a deterrent to leaving the labor force and claiming DI, although persons who are unable to work would leave the labor force even without health benefits. In order to understand how the decline in retiree health benefits may affect enrollment in DI, analysts must at least incorporate the role of coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). That act provides many people with access to health insurance during the 2-year gap between eligibility for DI and Medicare. In fact, persons with sufficient means to retire early could use the income from Disability Insurance to buy COBRA coverage during the first 2 years of DI coverage. Determining the effect of the erosion of retiree health benefits on DI must account properly for the role of other factors that affect DI eligibility and participation. The financial incentives of Social Security, pension plans, retirement savings programs, health status, the availability of health insurance, and other factors influencing retirement decisions must be taken fully into account in order to isolate the precise effect of retiree health benefits.
Download or read book Retiree Health Trends and Implications of Possible Medicare Reforms written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Effect of Health Reform on Retirement written by Helen Levy and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many studies have shown that the availability of health insurance is an important determinant of the retirement decision. Beginning in January 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made affordable alternatives to employer-sponsored health insurance much more widely available than they had been previously through the establishment of health insurance exchanges and, in some states, the expansion of Medicaid eligibility to low-income, childless adults. We analyze whether these new health insurance options led to an increase in retirement or part-time work among individuals ages 55 through 64 during the first 18 months after the policy took effect. Using data from the basic monthly Current Population Survey from January 2005 through June 2015, we find that there was no increase in retirement in 2014 either overall or in Medicare expansion states relative to nonexpansion states. We also find no change in the fraction of older workers who are working part-time.
Download or read book Retiree Health Benefits Including Proposals to Extend Medicare to Cover Early Retirees at Age 60 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Health and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Benefits and Beyond written by Thomas E. Murphy and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2010 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written for students of benefit design and policy, human resources and employee compensation, this book explains the basics of labor economics, human resource strategies, tax policies, metrics and actuarial science. Murphy (law and economics, Miami U., Ohio) uses case studies and examples for illustrating the proper strategies for benefit design including publicly funded retirement plans, health care programs, life insurance, equity benefits and disability plans. This text also compares benefit policy in Europe, the United States and the Pacific Rim for students who wish to practice human resources on an international level. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Download or read book Retiree Health Plans written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High Income Countries written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-06-27 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes. According to Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries, the nation's history of heavy smoking is a major reason why lifespans in the United States fall short of those in many other high-income nations. Evidence suggests that current obesity levels play a substantial part as well. The book reports that lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access. For the main causes of death at older ages-cancer and cardiovascular disease-available indicators do not suggest that the U.S. health care system is failing to prevent deaths that would be averted elsewhere. In fact, cancer detection and survival appear to be better in the U.S. than in most other high-income nations, and survival rates following a heart attack also are favorable. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies many gaps in research. For instance, while lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the damage from smoking, no clear-cut marker exists for obesity, physical inactivity, social integration, or other risks considered in this book. Moreover, evaluation of these risk factors is based on observational studies, which-unlike randomized controlled trials-are subject to many biases.
Download or read book Economic Effects of Health Reform written by C. Eugene Steuerle and published by American Enterprise Institute. This book was released on 1994 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text provides guidelines for policy makers to consider as they reconfigure the government's role in the market for health care, to promote total economic well-being.
Download or read book Retooling for an Aging America written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-08-27 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs. Retooling for an Aging America calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers, who currently receive little or no training in how to tend to their aging loved ones. The book also recommends that Medicare, Medicaid, and other health plans pay higher rates to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and care aides. Educators and health professional groups can use Retooling for an Aging America to institute or increase formal education and training in geriatrics. Consumer groups can use the book to advocate for improving the care for older adults. Health care professional and occupational groups can use it to improve the quality of health care jobs.
Download or read book Retiree Health Benefits written by Paul Fronstin and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Issue Brief addresses a wide range of retiree health issues. It reviews the provisions and impact of FAS 106 and includes a discussion of how companies have changed their overall retiree health liabilities. It describes Medicare, the primary source of publicly financed retiree health benefits, and its changing relationship with employer plans. In addition, it analyzes other financing arrangements. The Issue Brief concludes with a discussion of policy issues that will potentially affect workers, future retirees, and employers.Changing demographics are likely to have serious implications for the financing and delivery of health care services as the baby boom generation reaches retirement age.FASB Statement No. 106, "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions" (FAS 106) -- approved in December 1990 -- has dramatically changed the way most private companies account for their retiree health benefits and other postretirement nonpension benefit obligations. FAS 106 requires liabilities for retiree health benefits to be recognized explicitly on balance sheets. It applies many of the same principles that were used in accounting for pensions (FAS 87 and FAS 88) to other postretirement benefits (e.g., health coverage, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and housing).In response to FAS 106 and increases in health care costs, some firms have dropped retiree health benefits, while others still have no plans to change their existing benefit provisions. However, the vast majority of companies have made numerous changes in their retiree health benefit programs. Of those companies indicating a modification or considering one, the most common was a change in cost sharing provisions, followed by caps on company contributions, and annual adjustments in retiree contribution amounts.The Medicare managed care program was created by Congress in 1982 under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act and became operational during 1985. This program allows Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in one of three types of managed care contracts: risk HMOs, cost HMOs, and health care prepayment plans. Employers have discovered that Medicare HMOs, especially risk HMOs, offer employers and retirees a "win-win" alternative to the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program and traditional retiree health benefits.
Download or read book The Affordable Care Act as Retiree Health Insurance written by Alan L. Gustman and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on retirement. We first calculate retirements (and in related analyses changes in expected ages of retirement and/or Social Security claiming) between 2010, before ACA, and 2014, after ACA, for those with health insurance at work but not in retirement. This group experienced the sharpest change in retirement incentives from ACA. We then compare retirement measures for those with health insurance at work but not in retirement with retirement measures for two other groups, those who, before ACA, had employer provided health insurance both at work and in retirement, and those who had no health insurance either at work or in retirement. To complete a difference-in-difference analysis, we make the same calculations for members of an older cohort over the same age span. We find no evidence that ACA increases the propensity to retire or changes the retirement expectations of those who, before ACA, had coverage when working but not when retired. An analysis based on a structural retirement model suggests that eventually ACA will increase the probability of retirement by those who initially had health insurance on the job but did not have employer provided retiree health insurance. But the retirement increase is quite small, only about half a percentage point at each year of age. The model also suggests that much of the effect of ACA on retirement will be realized within a few years of the change in the law.
