Marketwatch: Setting a standard of affordability for health insurance coverage

Health Affairs

Volumn 26, Issue 4, 2007, Pages

  Blumberg, Linda J ^a,b   Holahan, John ^b   Hadley, Jack ^b   Nordahl, Katharine ^c  

^a URBAN INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b Health Policy Center   (United States)

^c Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; COST; ECONOMICS; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HEALTH CARE PLANNING; HUMAN; INCOME; INSURANCE; LEGAL ASPECT; MANDATORY PROGRAM; MEDICAID; UNITED STATES;

ADULT; COST SHARING; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY; HUMANS; INCOME; MANDATORY PROGRAMS; MASSACHUSETTS; MEDICAID; STATE HEALTH PLANS; UNITED STATES; UNIVERSAL COVERAGE;

EID: 34548297228     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 02782715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.4.w463     Document Type: Article

References (10)

1. See Crittenton Women's Union, "The Quest for Economic Independence in the Commonwealth: 2006 Self-Sufficiency Standard for Boston," http://www.liveworkthrive.org/docs/fess2006/ 2006%20FESS%20Boston.pdf (accessed 8 May 2007).
2. M.K. Bundorf and M.V. Pauly, "Is Health Insurance Affordable for the Uninsured?" Journal of Health Economics 25, no. 4 (2006): 650-673.
3. This appendix is available online at http:// content.healthaffairs.org/ cgi/content/full/26/4/ w463/DC2.
4. Setting an affordability standard for annual coverage requires reliance on data for those purchasing coverage over the same time frame. In addition, part-year purchasers include those making many types of transitions, and their situations do not necessarily reflect equilibrium choices. If one presumes that those actually purchasing full-year coverage are somehow better off than those who do not, this would argue for an adjustment downward in the affordable spending levels calculated here.
5. L. Clemans-Cope, B. Garrett, and K. Hoffman, "Changes in Employees Health Insurance Coverage, 2001-2005," Issue Paper (Washington: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, October 2006).
6. See, for example, J. Gruber, "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review 84, no. 3 (1994): 622-641;
7. L.J. Blumberg, "Who Pays for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance?" Health Affairs 18, no. 6 (1999): 58-61;
8. K. Baicker and A. Chandra, "The Labor Market Effects of Rising Health Insurance Premiums," NBER Working Paper no. 11160 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau for Economic Research, 2005);
9. and C.Olson, "Do Workers Accept Lower Wages in Exchange for Health Benefits?" Journal of Labor Economics 20, no. 2, Part 2 (2002): S91-S114.
10. Below 300 percent of poverty, the percentage of income spent on premiums is much higher than for those with higher incomes. There is some question as to whether employers are able to fully shift the cost of premiums to employees at the lowest income levels, so these numbers might considerably overstate the amount that is shifted to lower-income workers.