Social Defaults and Plan Choice: The Case of Spousal Following
Overview & Synopsis
This paper studies 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 health care needs, well over half do so. Discrete- choice models suggest that beneficiaries place a value of more than $1,000 per year on being on the same plan as their spouse. Using a regression-discontinuity design, the paper shows that younger spouses disproportionately follow their older spouse’s plan choice. Joint plan choice contributes modestly to overall overspending, but increases costs substantially for couples with different cost-minimizing plans.
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Document Information
| Document Title | Social Defaults and Plan Choice: The Case of Spousal Following |
|---|---|
| Author / Organization | Gross, Tal, Layton, Tim, Prinz, Daniel, Yates, Julia |
| Subject & Discipline | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Categories | Economics & Development |
| Publication Year | 2025 |
| License / Rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Resource Verification | Listed PDF (Verification Pending) |
| Original Host Website |
World Bank Documents & Reports
(documents.worldbank.org)
|
| File Format | application/pdf (Portable Document Format) |
| Language | EN |
| Catalog ID | DOC-224972 |
| Original Source Link | Visit Source Page on documents.worldbank.org » |