The health status of workers who decline employer-sponsored insurance

Health Affairs

Volumn 20, Issue 6, 2001, Pages 180-187

  Blumberg, Linda J ^a   Nichols, Len M ^b  

^a URBAN INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b CENTER FOR STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ARTICLE; DECISION MAKING; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH INSURANCE; HEALTH STATUS; HUMAN; MALE; PATIENT; SOCIOECONOMICS; UNITED STATES; UTILIZATION REVIEW;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; DECISION MAKING; FEMALE; HEALTH BENEFIT PLANS, EMPLOYEE; HEALTH POLICY; HEALTH STATUS; HUMAN; MALE; MEDICALLY UNINSURED; MIDDLE AGE; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; SUPPORT, U.S. GOV'T, NON-P.H.S.; SUPPORT, U.S. GOV'T, P.H.S.; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0035513175     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.20.6.180     Document Type: Article

References (7)

1. D.W. Liska, N.J. Brennan, and B.K. Bruen, State-Level Databook on Health Care Access and Financing, 3d ed. (Washington: Urban Institute, 1998).
2. P. Fronstin, Employment-Based Health Benefits: Trends and Outlook, EBRI Issue Brief no. 233 (Washington: Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2001).
3. P.F. Cooper and B.S. Schone, "More Offers, Fewer Takers for Employment-Based Health Insurance: 1987 and 1996," Health Affairs (Nov/Dec 1997): 142-149; and H.S. Farber and H. Levy, "Recent Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage: Are Bad Jobs Getting Worse?" Journal of Health Economics (January 2000): 93-119.
4. P.F. Cooper and B.S. Schone, "More Offers, Fewer Takers for Employment-Based Health Insurance: 1987 and 1996," Health Affairs (Nov/Dec 1997): 142-149; and H.S. Farber and H. Levy, "Recent Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage: Are Bad Jobs Getting Worse?" Journal of Health Economics (January 2000): 93-119.
5. This paper is based upon a longer report funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Decliners of Employer-Based Health Insurance An Analysis Using the National Health Interview Survey (Washington: Urban Institute, October 2000).
6. Insurance status categories included the following: Medicare and employer coverage; coverage from own employer; employer coverage from other source; employer coverage of unknown type; Medicare, no employer coverage; private, nongroup coverage; private, type unknown; Medicaid; other public; Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS); military; Indian Health Service; and uninsured.
7. The remaining analyses exclude decliners and those not offered employer coverage who obtain coverage through another source. We chose to focus on the uninsured, because their situations are of the greatest policy interest. Those who take up employer coverage offers are an appropriate comparison group since they work for employers that offer coverage, just as decliners do, and face the same take-up decision as the decliners but have a different outcome. In this way, the interpretation of comparisons of workers in different groups is not complicated by the fact that some have access to employer coverage through their spouse.