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Workers' Compensation "Reforms," Choice of Medical Care Provider, and Reported Workplace Injuries

Author

Listed:
  • Leslie I. Boden

    (Boston University)

  • John W. Ruser

    (Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Abstract

In the 1990s, many states passed workers' compensation laws to control cost growth. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we determine the impact of these laws on the frequency of reported workplace injuries. In response to restrictions that make it more difficult to file claims, reported days-away-from-work injuries decline, accounting for between 7.0% and 9.4% of the dramatic fall in their frequency in 1991-1997. At the same time, these filing disincentives appear to account for 6.8% of the increase in cases with only restricted work activity, although the evidence is weaker for these injuries. Restricting workers' choice of medical care provider did not appear to reduce the frequency of cases in any nonfatal injury category. © 2003 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Leslie I. Boden & John W. Ruser, 2003. "Workers' Compensation "Reforms," Choice of Medical Care Provider, and Reported Workplace Injuries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 923-929, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:85:y:2003:i:4:p:923-929
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. McInerney, Melissa, 2010. "Privatizing public services and strategic behavior: The impact of incentives to reduce workers' compensation claim duration," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 777-789, October.
    2. Erin Todd Bronchetti & Melissa McInerney, 2012. "Revisiting Incentive Effects in Workers' Compensation: Do Higher Benefits Really Induce More Claims?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 286-315, April.
    3. Pedersen, Morten Saaby & Arendt, Jacob Nielsen, 2014. "Bargaining for health: A case study of a collective agreement-based health program for manual workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 123-136.
    4. Alison Morantz, 2010. "Opting Out of Workers' Compensation in Texas: A Survey of Large, Multistate Nonsubscribers," NBER Chapters, in: Regulation vs. Litigation: Perspectives from Economics and Law, pages 197-238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Nan Maxwell & Albert Liu & Nathan Wozny & Caroline Massad Francis, 2013. "Addressing Return-to-Work Issues in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act with Administrative Data," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 8e3f929cbea0422e8272f03ab, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. Dillender, Marcus, 2015. "The effect of health insurance on workers’ compensation filing: Evidence from the affordable care act's age-based threshold for dependent coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 204-228.
    7. Kelly D. Edmiston, 2006. "Workers’ Compensation and State Employment Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 121-145, February.
    8. Bilgrami, Anam & Cutler, Henry & Sinha, Kompal, 2021. "The impact of harmonising Australia’s workplace health and safety laws on workers compensation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 773, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. MELISSA McINERNEY & KOSALI SIMON, 2012. "The Effect of State Workers’ Compensation Program Changes on the Use of Federal Social Security Disability Insurance," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 57-88, January.
    10. Bilgrami, A. & Cutler, H. & Sinha, K., 2021. "Do standardised workplace health and safety laws and increased enforcement activities reduce the probability of receiving workers' compensation?," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 21/08, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Nicole Nestoriak & John Ruser, 2010. "Emerging Labor Market Trends and Workplace Safety and Health," NBER Chapters, in: Labor in the New Economy, pages 425-453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Dillender, Marcus & McInerney, Melissa, 2020. "The role of Mexican immigration to the United States in improved workplace safety for natives from 1980 to 2015," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Xuguang (Steve) Guo & John F. Burton Jr., 2010. "Workers' Compensation: Recent Developments in Moral Hazard and Benefit Payments," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 340-355, January.
    14. Andy Yuan & Price V. Fishback, 2020. "Rising Burdens of Proofs and The Grand Bargain of Workers’ Compensation Laws," NBER Working Papers 26980, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. repec:mpr:mprres:7900 is not listed on IDEAS

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