Social security and the rise in health spending

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhao, Kai
• 署名单位: University of Connecticut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2014.02.005
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 21-37
• 关键词: Social Security; Health spending; Saving; longevity

摘要

In a quantitative model of Social Security with endogenous health, I argue that Social Security increases the aggregate health spending of the economy because it redistributes resources to the elderly whose marginal propensity to spend on health is high. I show by using computational experiments that the expansion of US Social Security can account for over a third of the dramatic rise in US health spending from 1950 to 2000. In addition, Social Security has a spill-over effect on Medicare. As Social Security increases health spending, it also increases the payments from Medicare, thus raising its financial burden. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.