Are the Elderly Responsive in Their Savings Behavior to Changes in Asset Limits for Medicaid?

Abstract

In light of recent policy discussions aimed at reforming Medicaid, it is important to understand how the elderly respond to changes in the incentives of Medicaid. This article estimates the effect of a decrease in the implicit tax of holding assets brought about by the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I find that a $1 increase in state asset protections increased median total wealth holdings by $0.20, financial wealth by $0.04, and home equity by $0.27. As expected, larger responses are found for residents of states with income limits in place prior to the law change and for states that chose the highest level of protected resource amounts.