The Effects of Retiree Health Insurance Plan Characteristics on Retirees' Choice and Employers' Costs / Robert Clark, Melinda Morrill, David Vanderweide.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Robert.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Morrill, Melinda.

Vanderweide, David.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19566.

NBER working paper series no. w19566

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.

Summary:

To moderate the rate of growth of retiree health insurance costs, employers can modify plans and move retirees into less expensive plans. We examine policy modifications implemented by the North Carolina State Health Plan. We investigate whether incentives produce the desired plan elections and whether these changes, along with cost shifting, produce the expected reductions in cost growth. Using individual-level administrative data, along with aggregated data on expenditures for retirees, we estimate the effects of the introduction and subsequent repeal of a Comprehensive Wellness Initiative for non-Medicare eligible retirees, as well as increases in coinsurance and copayments and the introduction of a premium for all retirees. Over a third of non-Medicare retirees shifted into the least generous plan between June 2009 and December 2012. The level effects on annual costs and unfunded accrued liabilities were relatively modest, but growth rates were diminished. Increases in the retiree premiums reduced projected costs.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2013.