Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339501 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. 25/28
Publisher: 
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
We study how couples in the Medicare Part D program choose an insurance plan. Over 70 percent of enrollees choose the same plan as their spouse. Even among those with differing healthcare needs, well over half do so. Discrete-choice models suggest beneficiaries value being on the same plan as their spouse at over a thousand dollars per year. Using a regression-discontinuity design, we show that younger spouses disproportionately follow their older spouse's plan choice. Joint plan choice contributes modestly to overall overspending, but increases costs substantially for the couples with different cost-minimizing plans.
Subjects: 
Statutory health insurance
Marriage
Consumer behavior
Demand interdependence
Older adults
People with disabilities
United States
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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