Findings from Middle Tennessee State University in the Area of Health Insurance Reported (The Effect of Medicare Eligibility on Spousal…

Managed Care Weekly Digest

Findings from Middle Tennessee State University in the Area of Health Insurance Reported (The Effect of Medicare Eligibility on Spousal InsuranceCoverage)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- A new study on Health Insurance is now available. According to news originating from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "A majority of married couples in the USA take advantage of the fact that employers often provide health insurance coverage to spouses. When older spouses become eligible for Medicare, however, many of them can no longer provide their younger spouses with coverage."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Middle Tennessee State University, "In this paper, we study how spousal eligibility for Medicare affects the health insurance and health care access of younger spouses. We find that spousal eligibility for Medicare results in younger spouses no longer having employers pay for their insurance and being less likely to have employer-sponsored coverage. Instead, younger spouses switch to privately purchased coverage, which tends to be worse than what they had before their spouses became eligible for Medicare."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "We also find suggestive evidence that younger spouses are less likely to use health care services after their older spouses become eligible for Medicare."

For more information on this research see: The Effect of Medicare Eligibility on Spousal InsuranceCoverage. Health Economics, 2016;25(5):591-605. Health Economics can be contacted at: Wiley-Blackwell, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Health Economics - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1050)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from M. Dillender, Middle Tennessee State Univ, Dept. of Econ & Finance, Murfreesboro, TN 37130, United States (see also Health Insurance).

Keywords for this news article include: Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States, North and Central America, Health Insurance, Health Policy, Medicare, Middle Tennessee State University.