title: Employee demand for health insurance and employer health plan choices.
abstract: Although most private health insurance in US is employment-based, little is known about how employers choose health plans for their employees. In this paper, I examine the relationship between employee preferences for health insurance and the health plans offered by employers. I find evidence that employee characteristics affect the generosity of the health plans offered by employers and the likelihood that employers offer a choice of plans. Although the results suggest that employers do respond to employee preferences in choosing health benefits, the effects of worker characteristics on plan offerings are quantitatively small.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5405, USA. bundorf@stanford.edu
authors.forename: M Kate
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bundorf
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017047:Cost Sharing; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D017049:Employer Health Costs; D004651:Employment / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005249:Fees and Charges; D017754:Group Purchasing; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics*; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009042:Motivation; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D014481:United States