Financial and Life Planning Resource Directory

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Money: Health care costs, insurance
Consumers/clients: Mid-career, wealth-building
	Employers, Workers, and the Future of Employment-Based Health Benefits
		Employee Benefits Research Institute, December 2009, Free http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_02-2010_No339_EB-Bens.pdf Summary of presentations at EBRI’s 65th biannual policy forum, held in Washington, DC, Decmber 10, 2009.
	Poterba, James M., et al, Asset Cost of Poor Health, The
		National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2010, $5.00 http://www.nber.org/papers/w16389 In their analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Survey, the authors find that those in the top third of the health distribution accumulated, on average, more than 50 percent more assets than those in the bottom third of the health distribution.
	Trends in Health Care Expenditures for Adults Ages 45-64: 2006 versus 1996
		U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Dept. of Health and Human Services), August 2009, Free http://www.meps.ahcpr.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/Pub_ProdResults_Details.jsp?pt=Statistical%20Brief&opt=2&id=917 Documents a 40% increase in costs, after inflation
Consumers/clients: Late career, retirement
	2010 Market Survey of Long-Term Care Costs
		MetLife Mature Market Institute, October 2010, Free http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2010/mmi-2010-market-survey-long-term-care-costs.pdf Annual update for 2010
	Brandon, Emily, "8 Tips for Paying for Health Care in Retirement", U.S. News & World Report, March 9, 2009
		http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2009/03/16/8-tips-for-paying-for-health-care-in-retirement, Free Quick guidance if you are looking for health insurance in retirement.
	Buttell, Amy E., "Guiding Clients Through the Transition to Medicare", Journal of Financial Planning, March 2010 (Vol. 23, No 3)
		Buttell includes information on how to acquire Medicare expertise and stay on top of changes.
	Engelhardt, Gary V., and Gruber, Jonathan, Medicare Part D and the Financial Protection of the Elderly
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, October 2009, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Working_Papers/wp_2009-24.pdf Engelhardt and Gruber estimate that the extension of Part D benefits resulted in 75% crowd-out of prescription drug insurance coverage, and 33%-50% crowd-out of prescription drug expenditures of those 65 and older. Part D is associated with relatively small reductions in out-of-pocket spending.
	Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs (U.S. Social Security Administration)
		http://www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp/, Free A special program for people who cannot afford prescription drug costs under Medicare.
	Ferguson, Gary A., Medigap Policyholders Survey
		AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) and Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Chicago, May 2009, Free http://www.bcbs.com/issues/medicare/background/Medigap-Enrollees-Presentation-June-09.ppt According to this report, most Medigap insurance policyholders are happy with their policies.
	Friedberg, Leora, How Much Do Older Workers Value Employee Health Insurance?
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, July 2008, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_8-9.pdf The authors surveyed older workers and analyzed by ethnic group the factors that influence the presence or absence of health insurance.
	Johnson, Richard W., and Mommaerts, Corina, Are Health Care Costs a Burden for Older Americans?
		Urban Institute, July 2009, Free http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411924_health_care_burden.pdf The authors report that Medicare Part D has significantly reduced the proportion of income older Americans spend on health care. Most now spend less than one-eighth of income on health care, mostly for premiums, though for the poor this proportion is often closer to one-fifth.
	Johnson, Richard W., and Mommaerts, Corina, Will Health Care Costs Bankrupt Aging Boomers?
		Urban Institute, February 2010, Free http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412026_health_care_costs.pdf Johnson and Mommaerts discuss retiree health costs in terms of annual rather than lifetime costs, but their projections are quite dire just the same.
	Medical Insurance for Retirees: Basics You Need to Know
		RetirementWorks, Inc., 2008, Free http://www.retirementworks2.com/pdfs/Medical_Insurance-UNH.pdf Basic general information on this subject - a good starting point.
	Medicare Advantage: CMS Assists Beneficiaries Affected by Inappropriate Marketing but Has Limited Data on Scope of Issue
		U.S. General Accounting Office, December 2009, Free http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1036.pdf This report documents the volume and kinds of problems the Centers for Medi-care and Medicaid have dealt with in this area, but notes that no general survey has documented the extent of the problems.
	Medicare Basics
		U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2009, Free http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11034.pdf Consumer booklet, printable free online
	Medicare Facts & Fiction (Center for Medicare Advocacy)
		http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/, Free A not-for-profit group that offers information about Medicare, including the implementation of the 2010 health care reform act.
	Medicare health and drug plans state by state (U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
		http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Partnerships/downloads/statefactsheets_all.pdf, Free Fact sheets on Medicare health and drug plans state by state.
	Medicare.gov (U.S. Government)
		http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/questions/medigap-home.aspx, Free The official site for information about Medicare.
	Medicare.org
		http://www.medicare.org/, Free A privately funded agency that helps you understand Medicare, and your options for making the most of it.
	Medigap.com
		http://www.medigap.com/, Free Use this site to get a variety of price quotes on Medigap insurance policies for any state, but you should expect to have to provide your contact information followed by inquiries back from a broker.
	MetLife National Study of Adult Day Services
		MetLife Mature Market Institute, October 2010, Free http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2010/mmi-adult-day-services.pdf Annual update for 2010
	Monk, Courtney, and Munnell, Alicia H., Implications of Declining Retiree Health Insurance, The
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, August 2009, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Working_Papers/wp_2009-15.pdf The authors conclude that a full elimination of employer-sponsored health benefits would primarily affect early retirees who would face the cost of much more expensive insurance or of financing illness without insurance, particularly prior to Medicare eligibility.
	Munnell, Alicia H., and Hurwitz, Josh, What Is “CLASS” and Will It Work?
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, February 2011, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/IB_11-3.pdf Munnell and Hurwitz describe the “Community Living Assistance Services and Supports” component of last year’s U.S. health care law, which is intended to provide an alternative for current long-term care financing, its obstacles and possible improvements.
	Nonnemaker, Lynn, and Sinclair, Shelly-Ann, Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care
		AARP Public Policy Institute, January 2011, Free http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/ppi/health-care/i48-oop.pdf Nonnemake and Sinclair report that the median average out-of-pocket health spending by U.S. Medicare recipients was $3,103 per person in 2006. They give detail by age, sex, race, and poverty level.
	O'Brien, Sharon, "Health Insurance Solutions for Early Retirees"
		http://seniorliving.about.com/od/retirement/a/retireebenefits_2.htm, Free Useful tips for dealing with health insurance before Medicare kicks in.
	Sun, Wei, et al, Does Staying Healthy Reduce Your Lifetime Health Care Costs?
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, May 2010, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_10-8.pdf The authors find that that although the current health care costs of healthy retirees are lower than those of the unhealthy, the healthy actually face higher total health care costs over their remaining lifetime.
	Trends in Health Care Expenditures for the Elderly Age 65 and over: 2006 versus 1996
		U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Dept. of Health and Human Services), August 2009, Free http://www.meps.ahcpr.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/Pub_ProdResults_Details.jsp?pt=Statistical%20Brief&opt=2&id=918 Documents a 30% increase in costs, after inflation
	Trends in Medigap Coverage and Enrollment, 2010-2011
		AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans), July 2011, Free http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/Medigap2011.pdf Among other results, this study shows that nearly two-thirds of people who sign up for Medigap choose Plan F (by far the most popular) or Plan C, both of which cover Meidcare deductibles in full.
	Umans, Ben, and Nonnemaker, K. Lynne, Medicare Beneficiary Population, The
		American Association for Retired Persons, 2009, Free http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health/fs149_medicare.pdf This report examines the demographics of U.S. Medicare recipients, as well as utilization and spending patterns, and discusses possible future changes in these measures
	Use of Health Savings Accounts for Health Care in Retirement, The
		Employee Benefits Research Institute, April 2010, Free http://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_04-Apr10.HSAs-TaxExpends1.pdf This stuidy demonstrates that Health Savings Accounts, though intended for use by retirees, are limited to only a minor role in funding retirement health care, because of statutory limits on the plans, and the magnitude of typical health care costs in retirement
	Webb, Anthony, and Zhivan, Natalia, What Is the Distribution of Lifetime Health Care Costs From Age 65?
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, March 2010, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_10-4.pdf The expected present value of lifetime uninsured health care costs for a typical married couple age 65 is about $197,000, with a 5-percent risk that it will exceed $311,000. With nursing care included, the number increases to $260,000, with a 5-percent risk of exceeding $570,000.
	What’s in the Stars? Quality Ratings of Medicare Advantage Plans, 2010
		Kaiser Family Foundation, December 2009, Free http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8025.pdf Analyzing the ratings of plans by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Kaiser finds that the highest rated plans tend to be offered by not-for-profits and tend to be older plans. In some states, as few as 2% of participants are enrolled in the highly rated plans.
	Yakoboski, Paul J., Meeting Health Care Expenses in Retirement: How Ready Are Near-Retirees?
		TIAA-CREF, December 2009, Free http://www.tiaa-crefinsti-tute.org/pdf/research/trends_issues/ti_healthcare1209.pdf Yakoboski finds that despite relatively high levels of concern among older employees in higher ed institutions, relatively few have actually discussed meeting health care expenses in retirement with a financial advisor, although they recognize that this would be beneficial.
Consumers/clients: Aging
	Abaluck, Jason T., and Gruber, Jonathan, Choice Inconsistencies among the Elderly: Evidence from Plan Choice in the Medicare Part D Program
		National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers, February 2009, $5.00 http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14759 Abaluck and Gruber report that Medicare participants typically make poor decisions about which prescription drug plan to use, focusing too much on premiums and not enough on net cost. They suggest limiting choices to those that are financially best.
	Access to Long-Term Services and Supports: A 50-State Survey of Medicaid Financial Eligibility Standards
		AARP Public Policy Institute, September 2010, Free http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/ppi/ltc/i44-access-ltss_revised.pdf An update (using 2009 data) to their earlier survey using 2000 data.
	Cubanski, Juliette, et al, Healthcare on a Budget: An Analysis of Spending by Medicare Households
		Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, February 2009, Free http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/7859.pdf Among the authors' findings is that Medicare households spend more than three times on healthcare what non-Medicare households spend, as a percentage of total household expenses.
	Risk of Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure at End of Life, The
		National Bureau for Economic Research, July 2010, $5.00 http://www.nber.org/papers/w16170 The authors say that the average extra out-of-pocket medical cost in the last year of life averages $11,618, but with that figure jumping to $94,310 for people at the unluckiest end of the scale.
	"Providing Care to Older Adults in the Department of Veterans Affairs: Lessons for Us All (Special Issue)", Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging
		Summer 2010 http://www.asaging.org/generations/gen34-2/toc.cfm The complete table of contents and purchase information is provided.
Consumers/clients: Other / general / not specified
	Butrica, Barbara A., et al, Do Health Problems Reduce Consumption at Older Ages?
		Boston College Center for Retirement Research, March 2009, Free http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Working_Papers/wp_2009-9.pdf The authors find that health problems do not reduce non-health expenses for people of Medicare age, but do reduce non-health expenses for lower-income people below that age, suggesting that holes in medical care financing are at fault.
	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (U.S. Government)
		http://www.cms.gov/, Free The go-to site for information about Medicaid.
	Curry, Leslie A., et al, "Individual Decision Making in the Non-Purchase of Long-Term Care Insurance", Gerontologist, August 2009 (Vol. 49, No. 4)
		http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/49/4/560 People tend not to purchase long-term care insurance based on: policy, the viability and integrity of private insurance companies, family dynamics, psychological responses, and feelings of being overwhelmed and inadequately informed.
	Felland, Laurie E., and Reschovsky, James D., More Nonelderly Americans Face Prob-lems Affording Prescription Drugs
		Center for Studying Health System Changes, January 2009, Free http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/1039/ The authors found that in 2007, one in seven Americans under age 65 reported not filling a prescription in the previous year because they couldn’t afford the medication, up from one in 10 in 2003.
	Fronstin, Paul, Findings From the 2010 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey
		Employee Benefits Research Institute, December 2010, Free http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_12-2010_No352_CEHCS.pdf Fronstin finds low but growing enrollment in consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), with higher cost-consciousness, more engagement in wellness programs, and better health status.
	Fronstin, Paul, Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2010 Current Population Survey
		Employee Benefits Research Institute, September 2010, Free http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_09-2010_No347_Uninsured1.pdf Fronstin offers data on the uninsured in the U.S., and where people get health insurance coverage.
	GoodCare.com
		http://www.goodcare.com/index.php, Free A for-rpofit company that provides a good deal of free information about healthcare and health insurance options.
	Hidden Link, The: Health Costs and Family Economic Insecurity
		Families USA, January 2009, Free http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/the-hidden-link.pdf An excellent summary of issues relating to health care costs and family financial security.
	Individual Health Insurance 2009: A Comprehensive Survey of Premiums, Availability, and Benefits
		AHIP Center for Policy Research, October 2009, Free http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2009IndividualMarketSurveyFinalReport.pdf This report indicates that individual health insurance is more widely available and at a better price than is generally recognized.
	Johnson, Richard W., and Park, Janice, Who Purchases Long-Term Care Insurance?
		Urban Institute, March 2011, Free http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412324-Long-Term-Care-Insurance.pdf Johnson and Park break down the 10.7% of Americans who own private long-tern care insurance by age, ethnicity, and income level.
	Lewin Group, Americans at Risk: One in Three Uninsured
		Families USA, March 2009, Free http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/americans-at-risk.pdf Using census data, The Lewin Group found that 86.7 million Americans were uninsured during at least part of 2007 or 2008.
	Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement - Details for Personal Health Care Expenditures (U.S. Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services)
		http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareMedicaidStatSupp/LT/itemdetail.asp?filter-Type=none&filterByDID=0&sortByDID=2&sortOrder=descending&itemID=CMS1218816&intNumPerPage=10, Free Data on personal health expenditures by sources of funds and by type of expenditure.
	Patients' Bill of Rights (Familiies USA)
		http://www.familiesusa.org/health-reform-central/september-23/, Free A voluminous series of links to fact sheets concerning the U.S. Affordable Care Act of 2010
	Pilzer, Paul Zane, New Health Insurance Solution, The: How to Get Cheaper, Better Coverage Without a Traditional Employer Plan
		Wiley, 2007, $19.95 http://www.amazon.com/New-Health-Insurance-Solution-Traditional/dp/0470040211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279904492&sr=1-1 Pilzer's books is not just for people who need medical insurance to fill a gap between their retirement date and Medicare eligibility at 65, but it covers this situation among others.
	"High Deductible Health Plans: A Growing Option in Private Industry", Program Perspectives, April 2011
		http://www.bls.gov/opub/perspectives/program_perspectives_vol3_issue4.pdf, Free This report highlights data for private industry workers, including participation and comparisons between deductibles for traditional and high-deductible plans.
	Your Medical Bills: A Consumer’s Guide to Coping with Medical Debt
		Families USA, 2009, Free http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/coping-with-medical-debt.pdf This booklet covers steps for paying one’s medical bills, understanding one’s rights, and other information needed by people struggling with medical debt.