Health insurance coverage and marriage behavior: Is there evidence of marriage lock?

Premiums and eligibility for health insurance may cause a “marriage lock,” in which couples stay married for the sake of maintaining health insurance coverage. By using the Health and Retirement Study for adults aged 60–70, I examine whether employer‐based health insurance coverage for the spouse di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational studies of economics Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 136 - 158
Main Author Chen, Tianxu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published College Station John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.06.2023
Wiley
Subjects
COBRA 1985-US
Divorce
Employers
employer‐sponsored health insurance
Health insurance
Insurance coverage
Marriage
marriage behavior
marriage lock
Medicare
Premiums
Retirement
United States > US
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Summary:Premiums and eligibility for health insurance may cause a “marriage lock,” in which couples stay married for the sake of maintaining health insurance coverage. By using the Health and Retirement Study for adults aged 60–70, I examine whether employer‐based health insurance coverage for the spouse discourages divorce for spousal health insurance coverage‐dependent individuals. Diverse difference‐in‐difference models provide evidence of a 7 percentage points increase in the number of divorces upon achieving Medicare eligibility at age 65 for people with spousal insurance coverage relative to those without it. The estimates thus provide evidence that marriage lock exists.
ISSN:2831-3224
2831-3224
DOI:10.1002/ise3.45