Publications on Health Insurance

Tax and fiscal policy will loom large in the next president's domestic policy agenda. Nearly all of the tax cuts enacted since 2001 expire at the end of 2010 and the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) threatens to ensnare tens of millions of Americans. While a permanent fix palatable to both political parties has proven elusive, both candidates have proposed major tax changes. This summary outlines our analysis of the 2008 presidential candidates' tax plans. The full length report is also available.

Older men who expect high health care costs for themselves or their spouses after age 65 retire about 13 months later than those who expect low costs. The difference for women is 12 months. For those receiving health insurance from their employers, continued work reduces the risk of high out-of-pocket health care costs. Working longer also increases retirement incomes, making health care costs more affordable.

In this testimony Burman outlines a plan for tax reform that would maintain progressivity, raise enough revenues to finance the government, and dovetail with plans to provide universal access to health insurance. It would combine a value-added tax (VAT) dedicated to pay for a new universal health insurance voucher with a vastly simplified and much flatter income tax. With a new financing source for health care, income tax rates could be cut sharply-the top rates could be cut to 25 percent or less. The health care voucher would also offset the inherent regressivity of a VAT. And, under the simplified system, most Americans would not have to file income tax returns.

Rising health care costs threaten financial security at older ages and lead many older Americans to delay retirement. Continued work reduces the risk of high out-of-pocket health care costs for workers receiving health benefits from their employers. Working longer also increases retirement incomes, making health care costs more affordable. This report shows that men with very high expected health care costs after age 65 retire 11 months later than those with very low health care costs. For women, the difference is 12 months.

Baby boomers have changed the nature of work, why not the nature of retirement? Options will multiply, retirement expert Richard W. Johnson writes in The San Diego Union-Tribune, if Medicare rules, payroll taxes, and age-discrimination and tax laws become more congenial to work.