title: Heterogeneity and the effect of mental health parity mandates on the labor market.
abstract: Health insurance benefit mandates are believed to have adverse effects on the labor market, but efforts to document such effects for mental health parity mandates have had limited success. I show that one reason for this failure is that the association between parity mandates and labor market outcomes vary with mental distress. Accounting for this heterogeneity, I find adverse labor market effects for non-distressed individuals, but favorable effects for moderately distressed individuals and individuals with a moderately distressed family member. On net, I conclude that the mandates are welfare increasing for moderately distressed workers and their families, but may be welfare decreasing for non-distressed individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Bryan School, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402, United States. Electronic address: msander4@uncg.edu.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D037141:Mandatory Programs / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: Benefit mandates; Insurance; Labor supply; Mental health