Self-rated health and pension benefit adequacy: Evidence from Poland

Abstract

Background: The epidemic situation in the world in 2020 and 2021 raises many questions about people’s health. It is particularly important to identify the health of the population at high risk, including elderly individuals, especially retired people. We aim to identify how pension adequacy is related to the subjective health assessment of pensioners in Poland. Methods: The study uses data from the SHARE 50+ study in Europe, and, more specifically, from the SHARELIFE questionnaire results. The considered sample of 533 Polish pensioners was divided into persons receiving adequate and inadequate pension benefits. The study was conducted using the method of decision trees constructed according to the CART algorithm. Results: People with adequate benefits are healthy and rarely visit a doctor. If they are suffering from depression, they have frequent medical appointments. In the inadequate pensioners’ group, good self-rated health is declared only by people who visit the doctor no more than twice a year. Conclusions: Self-rated health is independent of the adequacy of pension benefits. Both women and men similarly rate their health. The decisive factor in the context of self-rated health is the intensity of physical and mental disease symptoms, the age of pensioners, and the availability of medical services.