Title
The long-run effects of pay-as-you-go medicare on savings and consumer welfare
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Public Finance Review
Publication Date
9-1-2005
Volume
33
Issue
5
First Page
634
Last Page
655
Keywords
Consumer welfare, Medical expense risk, Pay-as-you-go Medicare, Precautionary savings, Steady-state actuarially fair
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.
DOI
10.1177/1091142105277889
Print ISSN
10911421
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2005 Sage Publications. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Recommended Citation
Hau, A. (2005). The long-run effects of pay-as-you-go medicare on savings and consumer welfare. Public Finance Review, 33(5), 634-655. doi: 10.1177/1091142105277889
