title: How risky is individual health insurance?
abstract: This paper describes the relationship between type of insurance coverage in one period and the likelihood of becoming uninsured in the next. We find that for people at the median health status, becoming uninsured is most likely for those with individual insurance, less likely for those with small-group insurance, and least likely for those with large-group insurance. However, for people in poor or fair health, the chances of losing coverage are much greater for people who had small-group insurance than for those who had individual insurance. We attribute these results to the offsetting effects of high loadings and guaranteed renewability in the individual market.
authors.affiliation: Health Care Systems Department, Wharton School, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. pauly@wharton.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Mark V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Pauly
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Lieberthal
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States