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The Effect of Premiums on the Small Firm's Decision to Offer Health Insurance

Author

Listed:
  • Roger Feldman
  • Bryan Dowd
  • Scott Leitz
  • Lynn A. Blewett

Abstract

Many small firms (fewer than 50 employees) do not offer health insurance. We investigated the role of premiums in the small firm's decision to offer health insurance, using data from a 1993 survey of 2,000 small firms in Minnesota. Selectively-corrected equations were estimated to predict the premiums faced by firms offering and not offering insurance. The elasticity of demand for health insurance, calculated at the mean of the data, was -3.91 for single coverage and -5.82 for family coverage. We contrast these results to the much lower responsiveness found in experimental studies and suggest that our findings are more likely to model the small firm's demand for health insurance.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger Feldman & Bryan Dowd & Scott Leitz & Lynn A. Blewett, 1997. "The Effect of Premiums on the Small Firm's Decision to Offer Health Insurance," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(4), pages 635-658.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:32:y:1997:i:4:p:635-658
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    Cited by:

    1. Shore-Sheppard, Lara & Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Jensen, Gail A., 2000. "Medicaid and crowding out of private insurance: a re-examination using firm level data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 61-91, January.
    2. W. David Bradford & Lee Rivers Mobley, 2004. "Employment‐Based Health Insurance and the Effectiveness of Intrafirm Competition between Insurance Providers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(4), pages 1012-1031, April.
    3. Jonathan Gruber & Michael Lettau, 2000. "How Elastic is the Firm's Demand for Health Insurance?," NBER Working Papers 8021, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Goda, Gopi Shah, 2011. "The impact of state tax subsidies for private long-term care insurance on coverage and Medicaid expenditures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 744-757, August.
    5. Astrid Kiil, 2012. "Does employment-based private health insurance increase the use of covered health care services? A matching estimator approach," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-38, March.
    6. Richard Hirth & Reagan Baughman & Michael Chernew & Emily Shelton, 2006. "Worker preferences, sorting and aggregate patterns of health insurance coverage," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 259-277, December.
    7. Royalty, Anne Beeson, 2000. "Tax preferences for fringe benefits and workers' eligibility for employer health insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 209-227, February.
    8. Cawley, John & Simon, Kosali I., 2005. "Health insurance coverage and the macroeconomy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 299-315, March.
    9. Daysal, N. Meltem, 2012. "Does uninsurance affect the health outcomes of the insured? Evidence from heart attack patients in California," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 545-563.
    10. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3309-3416 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Kiil, Astrid, 2012. "Private health insurance and the use of health care services - a review of the theoretical literature with application to voluntary private health insurance in universal health care systems," DaCHE discussion papers 2012:1, University of Southern Denmark, Dache - Danish Centre for Health Economics.
    12. 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.
    13. Gruber, Jonathan & Lettau, Michael, 2004. "How elastic is the firm's demand for health insurance?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1273-1293, July.
    14. Nan L. Maxwell, "undated". "The ACA, Health Care Costs, and Disparities in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance," Mathematica Policy Research Reports cbf89dba1f494bfbb654acde7, Mathematica Policy Research.
    15. Amy B. Monahan & Daniel Schwarcz, 2013. "Limiting the ACA's Threats to Small Group Health Insurance Markets," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 25-34, March.
    16. Jonathan Cribb & Carl Emmerson, 2019. "The effect of automatic enrolment on employees working for small employers," IFS Working Papers W19/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    17. repec:mpr:mprres:7683 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Marquis, M. Susan & Louis, Thomas A., 2002. "On using sample selection methods in estimating the price elasticity of firms' demand for insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 137-145, January.
    19. Jean Marie Abraham & Thomas DeLeire & Annne Beeson Royalty, 2007. "Health Insurance, Pensions, and Paid Leave: Access to Health Insurance at Small Firms in a Broader Benefit Context: Working Paper 2007-08," Working Papers 18725, Congressional Budget Office.
    20. Thomas M. Selden, 2009. "The Impact of Increased Tax Subsidies on the Insurance Coverage of Self-Employed Families: Evidence from the 1996–2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    21. Nan L. Maxwell, 2008. "Labor Markets And Health Benefits: The Offer And Restrictions On It," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(1), pages 73-88, January.
    22. Alan C. Monheit & Jessica Primoff Vistnes, 2006. "Health Insurance Enrollment Decisions: Preferences for Coverage, Worker Sorting, and Insurance Take Up," NBER Working Papers 12429, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Lynn Paringer, 2007. "Hispanic Workers and Employer Sponsored Health Insurance," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 51(1), pages 40-53, March.
    24. 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.
    25. Yang Liu & Jiuchang Wei & Jia Xu & Zhe Ouyang, 2018. "Evaluation of the moderate earthquake resilience of counties in China based on a three-stage DEA model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 91(2), pages 587-609, March.

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