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Who pays for obesity? Evidence from health insurance benefit mandates

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  • Bailey, James

Abstract

Is there an obesity externality? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many state governments began requiring health insurance plans to cover treatments for diabetes. Using difference-in-difference analysis of restricted geocode data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to compare wages across states with and without diabetes mandates, I find that obese people pay for all of their own increased health costs in the form of lower wages, rather than passing them on to employers, insurers, and co-workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Bailey, James, 2013. "Who pays for obesity? Evidence from health insurance benefit mandates," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 287-289.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:121:y:2013:i:2:p:287-289
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.08.029
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David N van der Goes & Justin Wang & Katharine C Wolchik, 2011. "Effect of State Health Insurance Mandates on Employer-provided Health Insurance," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 437-449.
    2. Jay Bhattacharya & Neeraj Sood, 2011. "Who Pays for Obesity?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 139-158, Winter.
    3. James Bailey, 2014. "Who pays the high health costs of older workers? Evidence from prostate cancer screening mandates," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(32), pages 3931-3941, November.
    4. Bhattacharya, Jay & Bundorf, M. Kate, 2009. "The incidence of the healthcare costs of obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 649-658, May.
    5. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 622-641, June.
    6. Jonathan Klick & Thomas Stratmann, 2007. "Diabetes Treatments and Moral Hazard," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(3), pages 519-538.
    7. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-183, May.
    8. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "State-mandated benefits and employer-provided health insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 433-464, November.
    9. Joanna N. Lahey, 2012. "The efficiency of a group‐specific mandated benefit revisited: The effect of infertility mandates," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 63-92, December.
    10. Anca Cotet & Lee C. Spector, 2012. "The Impact of Diabetes Mandates on Infant Health," Working Papers 201204, Ball State University, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2012.
    11. Stephan F. Gohmann, 2009. "The Effect of State Mandates on Health Insurance Premiums," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 24(Spring 20), pages 59-73.
    12. James Bailey, 2013. "The Effect of Health Insurance Benefit Mandates on Premiums," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 119-127, December.
    13. Kowalski Amanda E. & Congdon William J. & Showalter Mark H., 2008. "State Health Insurance Regulations and the Price of High-Deductible Policies," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-26, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Depew, Briggs & Bailey, James, 2015. "Did the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate increase premiums?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Lennon, Conor, 2022. "Employer-sponsored health insurance and labor market outcomes for men in same-sex couples: Evidence from the advent of pre-exposure prophylaxis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    3. James Bailey, 2022. "State Health Insurance Benefit Mandates and Health Care Affordability," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-10, February.
    4. Glenn Furton & Adam Martin, 2019. "Beyond market failure and government failure," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 197-216, January.
    5. Kyung Min Lee & Chanup Jeung, 2021. "The incidence of the healthcare costs of chronic conditions," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 473-493, December.
    6. Conor Lennon, 2018. "Who pays for the medical costs of obesity? New evidence from the employer mandate," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(12), pages 2016-2029, December.
    7. Son, Jinyeong, 2022. "Do mandated health insurance benefits for diabetes save lives?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Conor Lennon, 2019. "Employer‐Sponsored Health Insurance and the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from the Employer Mandate," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(3), pages 742-765, January.
    9. Lennon, Conor, 2021. "Are the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance passed on to workers at the individual level?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    10. James Bailey & Nathan Blascak, 2016. "The effect of state health insurance benefit mandates on premiums and employee contributions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(14), pages 1042-1046, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Obesity; Employer-based health insurance; NLSY geocode; Diabetes mandates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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