title: Taking up or turning down: new estimates of household demand for employer-sponsored health insurance.
abstract: This study provides new estimates of demand for employer-sponsored health insurance, using the 1997-2001 linked Household Component-Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Our focus is on households' decisions to take up coverage through a worker's employer. We found a significant inverse relationship between the out-of-pocket premium and the probability of taking up coverage, with the price effect considerably larger when we used instrumental variables methods to account for endogenous out-of-pocket premiums. Additionally, workers in families with more children eligible for Medicaid were less likely to take up coverage.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St., S.E., Mayo Mail Code 729, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. abrah042@umn.edu
authors.forename: Jean Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feldman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008483:Medical Assistance / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014483:United States Dept. of Health and Human Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data