Navigating Health Care Costs in Retirement

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
The Wharton School::Wharton Pension Research Council::Wharton Pension Research Council Working Papers
Degree type
Discipline
Economics
Subject
health care costs
retirees
medicare
Out-of-pocket health expenses
long-term care
end-of-life spending
Funder
Grant number
Copyright date
2025
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Sudipto Banerjee
Contributor
Abstract

Health care costs present a significant challenge for American retirees. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we show that the distributions of these expenses are highly concentrated. We distinguish between the different types of coverage options provided by Medicare and show how expenses vary under each type of coverage. We also document the incidence of common medical conditions and estimate their marginal impact on annual out-of-pocket expenses. Finally, we show that there is a significant increase in out-of-pocket spending at the end of life, and that nursing home or long-term care expenses are key contributors to that. While the median nursing home expenses were zero in the last year of life, among individuals who passed away after age 90, 5% spent $116,000 or more.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
WP2025-10
Publication date
2025-06-30
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Recommended citation
Collection