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The Economic Burden of Health Care, Funeral, and Burial Expenditures at the End of Life
Author(s) -
FAN JESSIE X.,
ZICK CATHLEEN D.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.2004.tb00464.x
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , affect (linguistics) , economics , demographic economics , public economics , economic growth , psychology , computer security , communication , computer science
Research suggests that widows and wodowers experience substantial economic vulnerability. Using nationally representative data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys 1980–2000, we describe pre‐widowhood shifts in medical and funeral/burial expenditures and discuss how these changes may affect post‐widowhood economic well‐being. Our analyses suggest that funeral/burial and medical expenditures, when combined, typically constitute a 63.1% income share for recently widowed households. Discussion focuses on what role consumer educators can play in helping families better manage end‐of‐life expenditures.