Labor Market/Retirement

Norma B. Coe, PhD, published a study in the Journal of Pension Economics & Finance examining who switches to value-based insurance among state employees in WA, where the insurance explicitly decreases premiums without changing out-of-pocket costs. Among other findings, the authors find that the peak age for switching insurance plans is 35–45. 

Providing unpaid care for an older parent has costs that go well beyond a caregiver’s lost wages. A new estimate suggests that the median direct and indirect costs of caregiving are $180,000 over two years, about the same as full-time institutional care. This estimate accounts for lost earnings as well as non-tangible factors, such as lost leisure time and changes to the caregiver’s well-being. It suggests that informal care cost caregivers at least $277 billion in 2011, which is 20 percent higher than estimates that only consider lost wages.