The Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Changes in Private Insurance Before and After Early Retirement.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of private insurance coverage on the symptoms of depression, activities of daily living (ADLs), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in the years leading up to Medicare eligibility focusing on the transition from full-time work to early full retirement.
Method: The Health and Retirement Study was used to (a) estimate 2-stage selection equations of (i) the transition to retirement and (ii) current insurance status, and (b) the impact of insurance coverage on health, net of endogeneity associated retirement and insurance coverage.
Results: Employment-based insurance coverage was generally associated with better health. Moreover, being without employment-based insurance was particularly problematic during the transition to retirement. Non-group insurance only moderated the association between losing employment-based insurance and IADLs.
Discussion: Results indicated that private insurance coverage is an important contextual factor for the health of early retirees. Those who maintain steady coverage tend to fare the best in retirement. This highlights the dynamic nature of changes in health in later life.
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America 2015.)