Pension Insurance Scheme Research Articles

Aufbau eines fondsbasierten „Generationenkapitals“ – staats- und unionsrechtliche Zulässigkeit der Rentenfinanzierung über einen Aktienfonds

Abstract The establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to build up “generational capital” is associated with legal imponderables. In principle, the German federal state can set up a foundation under public law to operate the fund with resources allocated to it as loans from the federal budget. However, if the federal state itself takes out loans to finance the foundation, this would be problematic from a constitutional point of view. As far as the protection of fair competition is concerned, it is unlikely that the fund will be systemically relevant and thus benefit from an implicit state guarantee. However, care must be taken to ensure that the fund receives its resources from the federal budget on market terms and that the resources supplied to the fund are also used on market terms. Otherwise, serious problems would arise under EU state aid law. The fact that the fund acts in the interests of the pension insurance scheme would not allow for an exception or justification.

Sustainability and inequality of Taiwan's National Pension Insurance

AbstractTaiwan's National Pension Insurance (NPI) is a compulsory defined benefit pension insurance scheme. However, paying the NPI premium is not mandatory. We use the NPI administrative data of more than 489 million observations to investigate the NPI's sustainability and inequalities for various groups. We find that NPI participants pay their premiums either consistently or not at all. Although the overall willingness to pay the premiums has been declining, one group of the insured persons consistently pays, thereby maintaining the sustainability of the NPI. Intergenerational and intragenerational inequalities are both found in the NPI; however, the government's premium subsidy reduces intragenerational inequality, except for young adult males who need the NPI and regularly pay premiums. Our empirical results suggest that subsidising these young male citizens strengthens the NPI's sustainability and mitigates the intergenerational and intragenerational inequalities of the NPI.

Pension insurance schemes and moral hazard: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation should restrict the insured pension plans’ portfolio policy

The pension insurance schemes existence leads to moral hazard: the insured defined benefit pension plans tend to invest more heavily in risky assets. A possible countermeasure mentioned in the literature, but not yet analyzed, is the introduction of a restriction on the pension plans’ portfolio policy. The US context is chosen for analysis. We argue that a portfolio restriction is needed in the case of a sponsoring firm in financial difficulty having an underfunded pension plan. We prove that the restriction should respond to the objective of liability hedging. Estimation results suggest that the corresponding portfolio strategy is a low-risk policy. The paper recommends that the maximum equity proportion is fixed at 30%.

Assessing the economic potential to increase the retirement age in Russian regions

Subject. This article discusses the further development of the Russian compulsory pension insurance scheme. Objectives. The article aims to develop methodological approaches to assessing the regional aspect of pension insurance and security, showing a high degree of differentiation in the system's development in Russian regions. Methods. For the study, I used a factor analysis integral method. Results. Identifying demographic, socio-economic and financial factors, the article shows a significant variation between the maximum and minimum values of indicators reflecting the state of the pension system in the Russian regions, and significant differences in economic potential in terms of raising the retirement age. Relevance. The proposed original algorithm for assessing the region's readiness to raise the retirement age can be used for any subject of the Russian Federation. Testing of this technique is of exceptional importance in the face of impending economic collapse in the regions due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which will increase the negative effect of raising the retirement age.

Morbidity, Physical Disability and Health Security of the Greying Population in India: Distributional Profile and Implications

Ageing involves multidimensional changes including those in the biological, psychological and social spheres of a person’s existence. Based on the IHDS 2011-12 the study tries to analyse the morbidity/ disability status and the income and expenditure coverage incurred for treatment of the 60 plus folks in the country. High Blood Pressure, diabetes and Asthma are the most prevalent morbidity types among the aged people and these are suffered through out of the rest of life. The inadequate care and support in the older age creates stress and makes the infirmity problem more severe. Accessibility and quick improvement in health condition become the major reason for preferring the allopathic treatments. Availing any sort of pension or health insurance schemes is the possible way that makes the elderly more independent and stable. However the data reveals that the percent of elderly availing these services are slight in number. Financial burden and dependence force them to skip their treatment or to ignore the affliction, this makes their health condition more severe and further leads to more illness.

Breast cancer patients’ return to work (B-CARE): protocol of a longitudinal mixed-methods study aiming to explore medical and occupational rehabilitation of patients with breast cancer in Germany

IntroductionIn recent years, research has been done on determinants of return to work (RTW) in cancer survivors and their long-term work outcomes. Nevertheless, little is known about the survivors’ evaluation...

Quality management in medical rehabilitative care by the German statutory pension insurance scheme.

This paper aims to provide an insight into the quality management approach for medical rehabilitation services of the German statutory pension insurance scheme. In the 1990s, the German statutory pension insurance scheme initiated a quality management programme in rehabilitation, which is subject to continuous development. The main objective of implementing quality management in rehabilitative care was quality control and quality improvement. To achieve these goals, five main tools for quality measurements were applied: a classification of therapeutic services, standards of rehabilitative interventions, patient surveys, peer review, and surveys that address structure of care. These tools enable the assessment of the structural and process quality of rehabilitative care, as well as aspects of rehabilitation outcome. As a result, quality of rehabilitation care becomes more measurable, transparent, and hence can be improved on well-founded grounds. These measurements allow implementing comparisons and benchmarking of rehabilitation facilities, thereby creating incentives for quality improvements. Therefore, the development and implementation of quality management measures in facilities of inpatient and outpatient medical rehabilitation is an ongoing process and expands to other areas of rehabilitation.

Two-Part Models and Quantile Regression for the Analysis of Survey Data With a Spike. The Example of Satisfaction With Health Care.

Background: Results of patient satisfaction questionnaires can contain a spike at the value corresponding to a complete satisfaction. A possible interpretation is that there are two types of respondents, those who are willing to provide a negative evaluation to one or more items proposed in the questionnaire and those who will always provide a completely positive evaluation irrespective of the item. The aim of the present study is to compare various statistical approaches to the analysis of such data using data from a rehabilitation patient survey of the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme as an example.Method: We used data from 272,806 respondents who participated in the survey from 2008 to 2011. We illustrate four models: linear regression, logistic regression, a two-part model based on the assumption of two underlying populations and quantile regression, which does not require any distributional assumptions. For each model we consider the relationship of the satisfaction score with two covariates.Results: While providing correct estimates of the mean values (marginal effects), the assumptions of the linear model are violated which can lead to false interpretations. A two-part regression which consists of a logistic regression followed by a linear regression conditional on not being fully satisfied is a useful alternative. For research questions focusing on specific parts of the distribution, logistic regression as well as quantile regression are to be considered.Discussion: Data with a spike represents a statistical challenge but a range of modeling approaches is available to provide sound interpretations and correct answers to research questions.

Rotation of the age pattern of mortality improvements in the European Union

Human mortality tends to decline in the long run, which is fortunate for humans, but less so for pension and health insurance schemes and annuity providers. Empirical studies have shown that rates of mortality improvement depend heavily on the age, gender and country in question, and additionally, they also tend to change in time. More specifically, the historical acceleration of mortality decreases among the elderly and a simultaneous slowdown of improvement at younger ages, which are sometimes jointly referred to as the rotation of the age pattern of mortality decline, have been observed in several populations. After a concise summary of the most relevant literature, this paper suggests a simple, largely data-driven methodology with few assumptions for the empirical examination of the rotation phenomenon in historical mortality datasets. These techniques are then applied on United Nations data from the period between 1950 and 2015 for both genders and all 28 countries of the European Union. The results indicate that rotation has indeed taken place in numerous member states, but its presence is far from universal, and it appears to have been notably more prevalent in populations of women than among men. Life expectancies seem to predict degrees of rotation only in the former Eastern bloc despite prominent literature that suggests otherwise, while increments of life expectancies over the observed period are better predictors of the degrees of rotation in the case of Western European women.

Potentials of the Third German Socio-Medical Panel of Employees (GSPE-III) for Research in the Field of Migration and Rehabilitation: The Example of Utilization of Rehabilitative Care

The majority of previous studies shows that migrants use medical rehabilitation less often than non-migrants. In some cases, opposite results have been reported. Previous research, however, has different limitations. The present study examines the use of rehabilitation among migrants and non-migrants by means of the Third German Socio-medical Panel of Employees (GSPE-III). The study is based on the first wave of the GSPE-III, extended by administrative data from the insurance accounts of the respective study participants. The survey was conducted in May 2013 and comprises a risk cohort of insurants of the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund) who are at risk of reduced social participation and who received sickness benefits in 2012. We compared non-German nationals, German nationals with a migration background and German nationals without a migration background. Based on the Andersen Healthcare Utilization Model, the quality of life, the self-perceived risk of a reduced earning capacity as well as demographic and socio-economic factors were taken into account as covariates using a logistic regression model. Of the 2,413 respondents surveyed, 2.7% were foreign nationals and 4.4% were German nationals with a migration background. As compared to Germans with no migration background, Germans with a migration background and non-German nationals did not significantly differ in their utilization of rehabilitation (adjusted odds ratio=0.78, 95%-CI=0.47-1.30 and adjusted odds ratio=0.99; 95%-CI=0.53-1.88, respectively). The GSPE-III allows overcoming some limitations of previous studies by means of detailed data on migration background as well as the possibility to consider confounding factors at different levels and to link survey with routine data. The results contradict the majority of previous studies and show that epidemiological research on the utilization of rehabilitative care among migrants is inconsistent. For the interpretation of the present findings, it is also necessary to take into account the special properties of the GSPE-III and the comparatively small sample size.

Old-Age Poverty: The Household Perspective; A Microsimulation Approach of Pension Entitlements in Germany

Providing a decent living standard and preventing old-age poverty are the two major challenges of pension insurance schemes. Replacement rates below the poverty line despite many years of contribution represent a major challenge for public pension schemes with respect to the systems 'raison d’etre'. The focus of the present paper turns away from individual perspective and considers household retirement incomes in the light of analysing old-age poverty and designing (minimum) pension policies. Using household survey and administrative data, the paper examines actual needs of pensioner households in relation to the means-tested minimum pension. The simulation results suggest that 56% of those living in couple households would achieve a pension level lower than means-tested minimum pension if they were considered at the individual level. The findings clearly indicate gender discrepancies: households represent a noticeable insurance function. Especially women are better off if old-age poverty analysis integrates other household incomes. The German government intends to implement the Grundrente in 2019. This minimum pension policy entitles individuals who spent more than 35 contribution years to a 10% mark-up on the means-tested minimum pension. The microsimulation analysis also provides important findings regarding the extent of entitled beneficiaries. Whilst 30% of all new pensions would benefit from an individual perspective, after means-testing only 3% at all will meet the conditions of 35 contribution years which strongly questions the target orientation of the Grundrente.

Access to social security for digital platform workers in Germany and in Russia: a comparative study

Abstract: A common feature of platform work in Germany and Russia is that in both countries the new forms of employment can usually only be classified as self-employed work in the form of ‘solo self-employment’, despite the fact that platforms use direct and indirect control mechanisms indicating a personal or at least an economic dependency of the digital workers on the platforms. The difference is that, in Germany, as the main rule, self-employed persons are not obligatorily insured in the state pesion insurance scheme, whereas in Russia, unlike Germany, the state pension insurance scheme is mandatory for all self-employed persons.Considering the different legal frameworks in Germany and in Russia, the article analyses various reform proposals aiming at tackling the above-mentioned challenges for the social security systems, and looks for adequate responses to ensure access to social security for digital platform workers. In particular, the following questions are investigated: Is it sufficient to subsume digital work under the existing employment categories? Could it be an appropriate solution for the access of digital workers to social security to introduce a new employment category only in social law?Keywords: digital platform worker, social security, self-employed person

Inpatient Rehabilitation for Children and Adolescents With Diabetes in Germany Between 2006 and 2013.

In Germany, inpatient rehabilitation is a well-established additive option in the therapeutic concept for children and adolescents with diabetes. However, its contribution in pediatric diabetes care is not known exactly. Our objective was to analyze inpatient rehabilitation in pediatric diabetes over eight years in Germany. We requested secondary data from the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme to evaluate all completed inpatient rehabilitations for children and adolescents with diabetes (ICD-code E10-14) reimbursed by this institution between 2006 and 2013. For each type of diabetes, we analyzed the distribution of admissions by year, age-group, sex, nationality, and other documented diagnoses. All analyses were conducted via remote computing with IBM SPSS Version 24. Between 2006 and 2013, 5,403 admissions to inpatient rehabilitation for 4,746 children and adolescents with diabetes were documented. For type 1 diabetes (T1D; 88.5% of admissions), the number of yearly admissions increased from 458 in 2006 to 688 in 2013 (p=0.013), especially for age-group>5-10. The increase for type 2 diabetes (T2D) was not significant. Admissions were more frequent for girls (53.6%, p≤0.001), age>10-15 years (42.8%, p=0.001), and German nationality (98.5%). Obesity (T1D: 11.1%; T2D: 87.9%) and mental disorders (T1D: 11.6%; T2D: 27.4%) were the most frequent documented diagnoses in addition to diabetes. This study provides a comprehensive overview of inpatient rehabilitation for children and adolescents with diabetes over many years in Germany. Until 2013, inpatient rehabilitation remained important in pediatric diabetes care, especially for children with mental disorders or obesity.

Privatisierung und Vermarktlichung der Altersvorsorge: Eingetrübte Aussichten des deutschen Mehrsäulenmodells

WSI-Mitteilungen , Seite 468 - 475

Satisfaction with rehabilitative health care services among German and non-German nationals residing in Germany: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesRehabilitation following medical conditions is largely offered as in-patient service in Germany. Foreign-national residents use rehabilitative services less often than Germans and attain less favourable treatment outcomes. These differences are...

Determinants of Health-Related Quality of Life Among Elderly: Evidence From Chi Linh Town, Vietnam.

As Vietnam confronts with the challenge of an aging population, the importance of quality of life for elderly people becomes apparent. This article aims to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its correlates for the elderly, using a cross-sectional study design. A total of 1599 adults, aged 60 years and older, were drawn from the 2016 baseline survey of Chi Linh Health and Demographic Surveillance System (CHILILAB HDSS), which incorporated the EQ-5D, to measure HRQoL. Data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression analyses. The EQ-5D index of the elderly was found to be 0.871 (95% confidence interval = 0.862-0.880). After controlling for covariates, there were statistically significant associations between lower HRQoL and older age (≥80 years), lower education, no pension, chronic disease(s), and health insurance schemes targeting poor/near poor/priority groups. Current and future policies for improving HRQoL in old age should be extended to cover the most vulnerable groups.

Risk Shifting in Pension Investment

This paper provides evidence that pension regulations can incentivize or curb risk shifting in the investment of defined benefit (DB) plan assets. We document that in the U.S., whereby the pension insurance premium charged by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is largely flat, financially distressed firms with severely underfunded plans shift pension investment risk. We further find that risk shifting is mitigated in the U.K. after the implementation of risk-adjusted pension insurance premium, and in the Netherlands where full pension funding is mandatory. Overall the results in this paper lend support to the view that structural flaws in the U.S. statutory pension insurance scheme incentivize high-risk sponsors to gamble their pension assets when distress terminations of their plans become foreseeable.

The Effect of Firms’ Phased Retirement Policies on the Labor Market Outcomes of Their Employees

In this article, the authors assess the impact on male employees’ labor market outcomes of firms offering a special form of phased retirement. The goal of the program is to smooth the transition from work to retirement and to decrease the costs of public pension and unemployment insurance schemes by increasing the employment of elderly workers. Using a unique linked employer-employee data set, the authors examine whether male employees spend more time in employment and less time in unemployment or inactivity after the introduction of the program. Results suggest that phased retirement options offered by firms can help to reduce some of the public costs of low labor force attachment of elderly workers, mainly by reducing exits through unemployment and by increasing employment and earnings. Under relatively good labor market conditions, they may also encourage a small share of workers to exit the labor market earlier.

The Effect of Regulations on Pension Risk Shifting: Evidence from the US and Europe

AbstractThis paper provides evidence that pension regulations can incentivize or curb risk shifting in the investment of defined benefit plan assets. We document that in the US, where the pension insurance premium charged by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is largely flat, financially distressed firms with severely underfunded plans shift pension investment risk. We further find that risk shifting is mitigated in the UK after the implementation of risk‐adjusted pension insurance premiums, and in the Netherlands where full pension funding is mandatory. Overall the results in this paper lend support to the view that structural flaws in the US statutory pension insurance scheme incentivize high‐risk sponsors to gamble their pension assets when distress terminations of their plans become foreseeable.

Can China’s new rural social pension insurance adequately protect the elderly in times of population ageing?

ABSTRACTWith the migration of young people from the rural to the urban regions in China, the growth of the ageing population in the rural regions has been accelerating. Concurrently, since 2009, China has begun to implement a new rural social pension insurance scheme. Can the new rural social pension insurance adequately protect China’s rural elderly in times of population ageing? This paper analyses the benefits to the rural elderly under China’s new rural social pension insurance and finds that the insurance cannot adequately protect its rural elderly population. Further, the insurance scheme still has many problems that need to be resolved. China should revise its new rural social pension insurance to adapt to its ageing population.