Taking up or turning down: new estimates of household demand for employer-sponsored health insurance.
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.
Abraham
Jean Marie
JM
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
Feldman
Roger
R
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