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Employee Costs and the Decline in Health Insurance Coverage

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Author Info
David M. Cutler

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Abstract

This paper examines why health insurance coverage fell despite the lengthy economic boom of the 1990s. I show that insurance coverage declined primarily because fewer workers took up coverage when offered it, not because fewer workers were offered insurance or were eligible for it. The reduction in take-up is associated with the increase in employee costs for health insurance. Estimates suggest that increased costs to employees can explain the entire decline in take-up rates in the 1990s.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9036.

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Date of creation: Jul 2002
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Publication status: published relationship to a non-chapter. This should not happen. Please contact NBER.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9036

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Private Pensions

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Rask, Kevin N. & Rask, Kimberly J., 2000. "Public insurance substituting for private insurance: new evidence regarding public hospitals, uncompensated care funds, and medicaid," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Farber, Henry S. & Levy, Helen, 2000. "Recent trends in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage: are bad jobs getting worse?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 93-119, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Blumberg, Linda J. & Dubay, Lisa & Norton, Stephen A., 2000. "Did the Medicaid expansions for children displace private insurance? An analysis using the SIPP," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 33-60, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 622-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Jonathan Gruber, 2002. "Taxes and Health Insurance," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 16, pages 37-66 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Dranove, David & Spier, Kathryn E. & Baker, Laurence, 2000. "'Competition' among employers offering health insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 121-140, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. repec:fth:prinin:398 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Newhouse, Joseph P, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. William M. Gentry & Eric Peress, 1994. "Taxes and Fringe Benefits Offered by Employers," NBER Working Papers 4764, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Cutler, David M & Gruber, Jonathan, 1996. "Does Public Insurance Crowd Out Private Insurance?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(2), pages 391-430, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Jonathan Gruber & Robin McKnight, 2002. "Why Did Employee Health Insurance Contributions Rise?," NBER Working Papers 8878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. David M. Cutler & Ellen Meara, 1997. "The Medical Costs of The Young and Old: A Forty Year Perspective," NBER Working Papers 6114, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Fuchs, Victor R, 1996. "Economics, Values, and Health Care Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 1-24, March.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jonathan Gruber & Ebonya Washington, 2003. "Subsidies to Employee Health Insurance Premiums and the Health Insurance Market," NBER Working Papers 9567, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ellen Meara & Meredith Rosenthal & Anna Sinaiko & Katherine Baicker, 2008. "State and Federal Approaches to Health Reform: What Works for the Working Poor?," NBER Working Papers 14125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. John Cawley & Kosali I. Simon, 2003. "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on the Health Insurance Coverage of Americans," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 6. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Dana Goldman & Neeraj Sood & Arleen Leibowitz, 2005. "Wage and Benefit Changes in Response to Rising Health Insurance Costs," NBER Working Papers 11063, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. John Cawley & Kosali I. Simon, 2003. "Health Insurance Coverage and the Macroeconomy," NBER Working Papers 10092, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Thomas C. Buchmueller, 2005. "Price and the Health Plan Choices of Retirees," NBER Working Papers 11395, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Dana P. Goldman & Neeraj Sood & Arleen Leibowitz, 2005. "Wage and Benefit Changes in Response to Rising Health Insurance," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 8. [Downloadable!]
  8. Gulcin Gumus & Tracy L. Regan, 2007. "Tax Incentives as a Solution to the Uninsured: Evidence from the Self-Employed," IZA Discussion Papers 2866, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Jessica Vistnes & Michael Morrisey & Gail Jensen, 2006. "Employer choices of family premium sharing," International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-47, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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