Access to affordable health insurance is crucial for maintaining the retirement income security of many retirees. Deteriorating health is often a powerful incentive for older workers to retire. However, in recent decades, health care costs have risen two to three times faster than inflation. Inadequate health insurance coverage puts working families at risk of going without the health care they need in retirement. Early retirees do not qualify for Medicare, and because Medicare does not include certain benefits such as prescription drugs, many retirees must turn to private health insurance. Although private health insurance can be accessed either through an employer or by purchasing a non-group plan in the private market, the latter option is likely to be prohibitively expensive or simply not available. This leaves retirees to a large degree dependent on their former employers offering retiree health insurance.