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Subsidies to Employee Health Insurance Premiums and the Health Insurance Market

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  • Jonathan Gruber
  • Ebonya Washington

Abstract

One approach to covering the uninsured that is frequently advocated by policy makers is subsidizing the employee portion of employer-provided health insurance premiums. But, since the vast majority of those offered employer-provided health insurance already take it up, such an approach is only appealing if there is a very high takeup elasticity among those who are offered and uninsured. Moreover, if plan choice decisions are price elastic, then such subsidies can at the same time increase health care costs by inducing selection of more expensive plans. We study an excellent example of such subsidies: the introduction of pre-tax premiums for postal employees in 1994, and then for the remaining federal employees in 2000. We do so using a census of personnel records for all federal employees from 1991 through 2002. We find that there is a very small elasticity of insurance takeup with respect to its after-tax price, and a modest elasticity of plan choice. Our results suggest that the federal government did little to improve insurance coverage, but much to increase health care expenditures, through this policy change.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9567
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David M. Cutler, 2003. "Employee Costs and the Decline in Health Insurance Coverage," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in Health Policy Research, Volume 6, pages 27-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. 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.
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    5. Cutler, David M. & Zeckhauser, Richard J., 2000. "The anatomy of health insurance," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 563-643, Elsevier.
    6. 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.
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    8. repec:fth:prinin:398 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Roger Feldman & Kenneth E. Thorpe & Bradley Gray, 2002. "Policy Watch: The Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 207-217, Spring.
    10. David M. Cutler & Sarah J. Reber, 1998. "Paying for Health Insurance: The Trade-Off between Competition and Adverse Selection," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 433-466.
    11. Helen Levy, 1998. "Who Pays for Health Insurance? Employee Contributions to Health Insurance Premiums," Working Papers 777, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Gruber, Jonathan & McKnight, Robin, 2003. "Why did employee health insurance contributions rise?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 1085-1104, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Randall Ellis & Elizabeth Savage, 2008. "Run for cover now or later? The impact of premiums, threats and deadlines on private health insurance in Australia," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 257-277, December.
    2. Buchmueller, Thomas, 2006. "Price and the health plan choices of retirees," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 81-101, January.
    3. Marjorie Honig & Irena Dushi, 2005. "Household Demand for Health Insurance: Price and Spouse's Coverage," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 411, Hunter College Department of Economics.
    4. Katherine Baicker & Helen Levy, 2008. "Employer Health Insurance Mandates and the Risk of Unemployment," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 11(1), pages 109-132, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Bundorf M. Kate & Herring Bradley & Pauly Mark V., 2010. "Health Risk, Income, and Employment-Based Health Insurance," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-35, September.
    7. Kevin Lang & Hong Kang, 2005. "Worker Sorting, Taxes and Health Insurance Coverage," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2005-011, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    8. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Sabina Ohri, 2006. "Health Insurance Take-up by the Near Elderly," NBER Working Papers 11951, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Helen Levy & Thomas DeLeire, 2003. "What Do People Buy When They Don't Buy Health Insurance And What Does that Say about Why They are Uninsured?," NBER Working Papers 9826, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Randall P. Ellis & Elizabeth Savage, 2008. "Run for Cover Now or Later? The impact of premiums, threats and deadlines on supplementary private health insurance in Australia," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series wp2008-013, Boston University - Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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