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Is Workers' Compensation Covering Uninsured Medical Costs? Evidence from the 'Monday Effect'

Author

Listed:
  • David Card

    (Princeton University)

  • Brian P. McCall

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

A growing fraction of U.S. workers face a dual system of medical insurance, with generous coverage through the Workers' Compensation system for work-related injuries, but limited or non-existent coverage for off-the-job illnesses or injuries. Uninsured and under- insured workers have an economic incentive to report off-the-job injuries as work accidents. Many analysts have interpreted the high rate of Monday injuries -- especially for hard-to-detect injuries like back sprains -- as evidence of this incentive. We combine administrative data on workplace injury claims with Current Population Survey data on medical insurance coverage to compute the fraction of Monday injury claims for workers who are more and less likely to have medical insurance. We find that workers with lower medical coverage rates are no more likely to report a Monday injury than other workers.

Suggested Citation

  • David Card & Brian P. McCall, 1994. "Is Workers' Compensation Covering Uninsured Medical Costs? Evidence from the 'Monday Effect'," Working Papers 706, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  • Handle: RePEc:pri:indrel:327
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. David Card & Brian P. McCall, 1994. "Is Workers' Compensation Covering Uninsured Medical Costs? Evidence from the 'Monday Effect'," Working Papers 706, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    5. Krueger, Alan B., 1990. "Incentive effects of workers' compensation insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 73-99, February.
    6. Murphy, Kevin M & Topel, Robert H, 2002. "Estimation and Inference in Two-Step Econometric Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 88-97, January.
    7. James R. Chelius, 1982. "The Influence of Workers' Compensation on Safety Incentives," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 35(2), pages 235-242, January.
    8. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 1990. "The Effect of Age at School Entry on Educational Attainment: An Application of Instrumental Variables with Moments from Two Samples," Working Papers 654, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    9. Burgess, Paul L, 1992. "Compliance with Unemployment-Insurance Job-Search Regulations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(2), pages 371-396, October.
    10. David Card & Brian P. McCall, 1994. "Is Workers' Compensation Covering Uninsured Medical Costs? Evidence from the 'Monday Effect'," Working Papers 706, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    11. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 1990. "The Effect of Age at School Entry on Educational Attainment: An Application of Instrumental Variables with Moments from Two Samples," Working Papers 654, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Douglas Wolf & David Greenberg, 1986. "The Dynamics of Welfare Fraud: An Econometric Duration Model in Discrete Time," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 21(4), pages 437-455.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Ichino & Enrico Moretti, 2009. "Biological Gender Differences, Absenteeism, and the Earnings Gap," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 183-218, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Lacroix, G & Brouard M-E, 2011. "Work Absenteeism Due to a Chronic Disease," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 11/15, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    4. David Card & Brian P. McCall, 1994. "Is Workers' Compensation Covering Uninsured Medical Costs? Evidence from the 'Monday Effect'," Working Papers 706, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    5. Michele Campolieti, 2002. "Moral Hazard and Disability Insurance: On the Incidence of Hard-to-Diagnose Medical Conditions in the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan Disability Program," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(3), pages 419-441, September.
    6. Denis Bolduc & Bernard Fortin & France Labrecque & Paul Lanoie, 1997. "Incentive Effects of Public Insurance Programs on the Occurence and the Composition of Workplace Injuries," CIRANO Working Papers 97s-24, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    workers compensation; health insurance; CPS; Current Population Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

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