The long-run effects of pay-as-you-go medicare on savings and consumer welfare

Arthur HAU

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

This article extends earlier results on the short-run effects of a change in insurance coverage on savings and consumer welfare to the case of the long-run effects of a change in pay-as-you-go Medicare coverage on savings and consumer welfare in an overlapping-generations economy. The notion of steady-state actuarial fairness is introduced. It is found that under some nonrestrictive assumptions, a rise in Medicare coverage reduces steady-state per capita capital and savings, provided that individuals are risk averse and prudent. Moreover, risk aversion and prudence guarantee that a rise in Medicare coverage raises steady-state welfare when Medicare is steady-state actuarial fair or favorable. Simulation results reinforce these findings. Moreover, they show that steady-state actuarial unfavorableness may or may not reverse the last conclusion.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)634-655
Number of pages22
JournalPublic Finance Review
Volume33
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2005

Keywords

  • Consumer welfare
  • Medical expense risk
  • Pay-as-you-go Medicare
  • Precautionary savings
  • Steady-state actuarially fair

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