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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Widow(er) poverty and out-of-pocket medical expenditures near the end of life | | Author(s) | Kathleen McGarry, Robert Schoeni |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 60B, no 3, May 2005 |
| Pages | pp S160-S168 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Widows ; Widowers ; Poor elderly ; Health services ; Expenditure [care] ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | In the US, older widows are three times as likely to live in poverty as older married people. This study uses data from the Asset and Health Dynamics (AHEAD) cohort (aged 70+ in 1993) of the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to investigate the gap in poverty, income and wealth between these groups. The focus is on out-of-pocket expenditure spent on dying spouses. 44% of the differences in economic status between widowhood and married older people was due to disparities in economic status that existed prior to widowhood. The remaining 56% was due to factors more directly related to the death of a spouse, including the loss of income and expenses associated with dying. On average, out-of-pocket medical expenditure in the final 2 years of life were equal to 30% of the couple's annual income. For couples in the bottom quartile of income distribution, these expenses were 70% of annual income. As policy makers continue to debate expansion and reform of Medicare, the potential effects of these reforms on economic well-being - particularly on widows - should be considered. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051121212 A |
| Classmark | SP: SPA: F:W6: L: QD: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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