This study aims to explore the relationship between health and household wealth in couples using data from the 1996-2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Employing a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) approach, it examines the economic influences of health issues on household wealth, differentiating between the effects of husbands' and wives' health conditions. The results indicate that wives’ chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and stroke, are linked to significant reductions in household wealth, whereas similar health issues in husbands have a minimal effect. However, when health problems limit work capacity, the husband’s diseases tend to negatively impact household wealth more than the wife’s. These findings highlight the gender-specific effects of health on wealth and suggest that policymakers should consider these differences when designing policies aimed at health and financial security.
