Paying for Health Care in the Years Before Retirement

--Dealth status and health care during the period of withdrawal from the labor force are included by the Social b’ecurity Admdniatration tn it8 study of the retirement process. Men and nonmarried women aged 58-63 at the outset of the survey decade had yet to enroll in Medicare, and most u3ere covered by private health insurance. As means of payment for care, health insurance benefits were reported by the insured about as often as Medicaid was reported by the uninsured. Differences between the insured an.d unznsured in bills and out-ofpochet payments occurred chief& at upper levels, where relatively amall groups reported sizable amounts. When health insurance premiums were added to out-of-pocket expenditures to measure total health care outlays, the eopenditurea of the (neured far outweighed the eopenditures of the uninsured. The frequency with which these outlays amounted to a tenth or more of total income was the same for those who were insure& as for those who were not.