Senior Fellow
Health Policy Center
"My training is in labor economics, but health has always been the focus of my research. The importance of health status as a component of human capital means that efforts to reduce inequality and improve economic conditions in communities should include consideration of population health. Health is both an outcome and a determinant of economic progress."
Timothy Waidmann is an expert in disability trends among older adults and their impact on Medicare spending. He conducted several studies of potential reforms to the Medicare program, including an increase in the age of eligibility for benefits, a voluntary Medicare buy-in program, a consolidation of the Medicare benefit package, and improved protections for low-income people. Waidmann also studied sources of geographic variation in Medicare spending and their effects on beneficiaries' health and access to physicians. In addition, he has looked at models of residential transition among the elderly; frameworks for reducing population disability rates; an examination of survey measurements that gauge late-life disability; and a study of asset divestment among potential nursing home residents.
Waidmann also studied the impacts of disability policies on labor force decisions. He recently tested alternative specifications for health status in econometric models used to measure retirement decisions.
PhD, Economics, University of Michigan
Areas of expertise
Chronic illness and disability, disability insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care
Selected Publications from Timothy Waidmann
Clarifying Sources of Geographic Differences in Medicare Spending Disability Trends Among Elderly Persons and Implications for the Future Publications by topic:
Elderly
Long-term Care
Health and Health Care
Medicaid
Medicare
Health Insurance and Medicare
See all publications by Timothy Waidmann
Latest Research
