Long-Term Care

The Effect of Informal Care on Work and Wages

Van Houtven, CH, NB Coe, and M Skira. “The Effect of Informal Care on Work and Wages.”  Journal of Health Economics.  2013; 32(1). 

The Asset and Income Profile of Residents in Seniors Care Communities

Coe, NB, and M Boyle.  “The Asset and Income Profile of Residents in Seniors Care Communities.”  Research in Aging 2013; 35(1).  

Geographic Migration Among Residents in Seniors Housing and Care Communities: Evidence From the Residents Financial Survey

Coe, NB, and AY Wu.  “Geographic Migration among Residents in Seniors Housing and Care Communities: Evidence from the Residents Financial Survey.” Journal of Housing for the Elderly. 2016. 30(3): 312-329, DOI: 10.1080/02763893.2016.1198741

Understanding the Context for Long-Term Care Planning

Broyles, I, NR Sperber, NB Coe, RT Konetzka, CI Voils, CH Van Houtven. “Understanding the Context for Long-Term Care Planning” Medical Care Research and Review 2016. 73(3) 349-368 PMID: 26553887.

Family Structure and Long-Term Care Insurance Purchase

Van Houtven, C, NB Coe, RT Konetzka.  “Family Structure and Long-Term Care Insurance Purchase.”  Health Economics. 2015. 24(S1), 58-73. PMCID: PMC4554715

Long-Term Care Insurance: Does Experience Matter?

Coe, NB, M Skira, CH Van Houtven. “Long-Term Care Insurance: Does Experience Matter?” Journal of Health Economics. 2015. 40, 122-131. PMCID: PMC4554715

Long-term Care Insurance: Does Experience Matter?

We examine whether long-term care (LTC) experience helps explain the low demand for long-term care insurance (LTCI). We test if expectations about future informal care receipt, expectations about inheritance receipt, and LTCI purchase decisions vary between individuals whose parents or in-laws have used LTC versus those who have not. We find parental use of a nursing home decreases expectations that one's children will provide informal care, consistent with the demonstration effect. Nursing home use by in-laws does not have the same impact, suggesting that individuals are responding to information gained about their own aging trajectory. Nursing home use by either a parent or in-law increases LTCI purchase probability by 0.8 percentage points, with no significant difference in response between parents' and in-laws' use. The estimated increase in purchase probability from experience with LTC is about half the previously estimated increase from tax policy-induced price decreases.

Coe, NB, M Skira, CH Van Houtven.  Long-term Care Insurance: Does Experience Matter? Journal of Health Economics. 2015. 40, 122-131.

Caring for Mom and Neglecting Yourself? The Health Effects of Caring for an Elderly Parent.

We examine the physical and mental health effects of providing care to an elderly mother on the adult child caregiver. We address the endogeneity of the selection in and out of caregiving using an instrumental variable approach, using the death of the care recipient and sibling characteristics. We also carefully control for baseline health and work status of the adult child. We explore flexible specifications, such as Arellano–Bond estimation techniques. Continued caregiving over time increases depressive symptoms and decreases self-rated health for married women and married men. In addition, the increase in depressive symptoms is persistent for married women. While depressive symptoms for single men and women are not affected by continued caregiving, there is evidence of increased incidence of heart conditions for single men, and that these effects are persistent. Robustness checks indicate that these health changes can be directly attributable to caregiving behavior, and not due to a direct effect of the death of the mother. The initial onset of caregiving has modest immediate negative effects on depressive symptoms for married women and no immediate effects on physical health. Negative physical health effects emerge 2 years later, however, suggesting that there are delayed effects on health that would be missed with a short recall period. Initial caregiving does not affect health of married men. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Coe, NB, and CH Van Houtven.  “Caring for Mom and Neglecting Yourself? The Health Effects of Caring for an Elderly Parent.”  Health Economics 2009; 18(9): 991-1010.