Richard Johnson
Principal Research Associate
Urban Institute
Richard Johnson, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute, is an economist specializing in health and income security at older ages. He is an expert on health care financing at older ages. He has written extensively about the availability and cost of health insurance in later life, particularly retiree health benefits, and has projected health care cost burdens for future generations of retirees. His long-term care research includes studies of family care’s impact on nursing home admissions, decisions to purchase private long-term care insurance, and the effects of demographic change on the future demand for paid care services. He has testified before Congress about the family costs of elder care and about gaps in health insurance coverage among older adults who have not yet qualified for Medicare.
Dr. Johnson is also an expert on older Americans’ employment and retirement decisions. Recent studies include analyses of occupational change at older ages, changes over time in job demands, and the impact of health care costs, elder care responsibilities, and spousal disability on retirement decisions. He has also written extensively about retirement preparedness, including studies of the financial and health risks people face as they approach retirement. He is currently co-directing a project for the U.S. Department of Labor to provide technical assistance to the Federal Taskforce on the Aging of the American Workforce, guest editing a special issue of Research on Aging on emerging employment patterns at older ages, and completing a book on older workers for the Urban Institute Press.
Prior to joining the Urban Institute in 1998, Dr. Johnson was an assistant research professor at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. He received an A.B. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in economics.