Document Type
Article
Abstract
Millions of retirees rely each year on employment-based health insurance to pay for medical expenses not covered by Medicare. Employment-based health insurance is often the only reasonable means by which early retirees can obtain health insurance coverage because of the exorbitant costs associated with purchasing individual insurance. As the costs of providing health insurance and medical care have skyrocketed, fewer and fewer employers continue to provide retiree health insurance coverage to their employees, and those that do shift much of the cost to the retirees themselves. Within this context Professor Cancelosi examines the future of employment-based retiree health benefits in the wake of the changes to the United States health care system encompassed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. She concludes that, although the Act may indeed hasten the erosion of employment-based retiree health plans, the Act's expanded Medicare coverage and increased access to insurance provide hope that in the future retirees will be able to obtain quality, affordable health care under the new system.
Disciplines
Elder Law | Health Law and Policy
Recommended Citation
Susan E. Cancelosi, The Bell Is Tolling: Retiree Health Benefits Post-Health Reform, 19 Elder L. J. 49 (2011).