Trends Underlying Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Growth For Americans Younger Than Age Sixty-Five (original) (raw)
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Health Services Research, 2009
Objective. To estimate the effect of growth in health care costs that outpaces gross domestic product (GDP) growth (''excess'' growth in health care costs) on employment, gross output, and value added to GDP of U.S. industries. Study Setting. We analyzed data from 38 U.S. industries for the period 1987-2005. All data are publicly available from various government agencies. Study Design. We estimated bivariate and multivariate regressions. To develop the regression models, we assumed that rapid growth in health care costs has a larger effect on economic performance for industries where large percentages of workers receive employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI). We used the estimated regression coefficients to simulate economic outcomes under alternative scenarios of health care cost inflation. Results. Faster growth in health care costs had greater adverse effects on economic outcomes for industries with larger percentages of workers who had ESI. We found that a 10 percent increase in excess growth in health care costs would have resulted in 120,803 fewer jobs, US$28,022 million in lost gross output, and US$14,082 million in lost value added in 2005. These declines represent 0.17 to 0.18 percent of employment, gross output, and value added in 2005. Conclusion. Excess growth in health care costs is adversely affecting the economic performance of U.S. industries.
Statistical journal of the IAOS
As the core nationally representative health expenditure survey in the United States, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is increasingly being used by statistical agencies to track expenditures by disease. However, while MEPS provides a wealth of data, its small sample size precludes examination of spending on all but the most prevalent health conditions. To overcome this issue, statistical agencies have turned to other public data sources, such as Medicare and Medicaid claims data, when available. No comparable publicly available data exist for those with employer-sponsored insurance. While large proprietary claims databases may be an option, the relative accuracy of their spending estimates is not known. This study compared MEPS and MarketScan estimates of annual per person health care spending on individuals with employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Both total spending and the distribution of annual per person spending differed across the two data sources, with MEPS es...
Increasing Health Insurance Costs and the Decline in Insurance Coverage
Health Services Research, 2005
To determine the impact of rising health insurance premiums on coverage rates. Study Design: Probit regression and instrumental variable techniques are used to estimate the association between rising local health insurance costs and the falling propensity for individuals to have any health insurance coverage, controlling for a rich array of economic, demographic, and policy covariates.
2000
Americans under the age of 65 depend on employers for their health insurance coverage more than any other source. Despite mounting rhetoric that employer-based coverage is rapidly disintegrating, nearly all large firms in the United States continue to offer health benefits to their employees. But there are key weaknesses in employer-provided coverage. These weaknesses, exacerbated by rising health care costs, have fueled the relentless rise in the number of people without comprehensive health insurance-now 47 million people, not counting the estimated 16 million adults who are underinsured.
Americans' health insurance coverage, 1980-91
Health care financing review, 1992
The authors of this article have used Current Population Surveys to summarize public and private health insurance trends in the United States over the last 12 years. Key findings include the declining percentage of the non-elderly population with employer-sponsored coverage and increasing numbers of low- and middle-income uninsured. That is, in a period of fast-rising health care costs, the poor and the near-poor in working families have been losing coverage for health care and facing increasing risks of inadequate care and financial loss. These data highlight health care access and financing problems now facing the Nation.
Household out-of-pocket health care expenditure trends: 1980-95
International Journal of Consumer Studies, 2001
restraining costs through use of preventive care, prepayment of most medical services and restricting the use of medical services. 2-4 The elderly and the poor can obtain basic health care through government funded Medicare and Medicaid respectively. 5,6 Tax and transfer payments essentially redistribute a portion of the health care financial burden from these groups to the general population. This redistribution implies that a social contract exists which says that those least able to help themselves as a result of advanced age, limited physical capacity or inadequate economic resources should receive help to meet a basic need. Escalating health care costs have begun to force reconsideration of the form and extent of this social contract, however. Provisions of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act were clearly intended to slow growth in public health care expenditures under Medicare and Medicaid. If accessible and affordable health care for a broad segment of the U.S. population is a public policy goal, assessing household out-of-pocket spending on health care is important for national health policy planning. This study uses 15 years of Consumer Expenditure Survey data to chart trends in constant dollar outof-pocket dollar expenditures and household budget shares for health insurance, medical services, prescription drugs and medical supplies, taking eligibility for government health care programmes into consideration. Findings were used to draw policy implications regarding the effect of health care market changes and the allocation of the health care financial burden. Related literature The health economics literature suggests that the low price that consumers pay out-of-pocket after the insurance company covers the larger share of the costs induces a higher demand for health care. 7 In support of this idea, Rubin and Koelln 8 found a significant and
Job-Based Health Insurance: Costs Climb At A Moderate Pace
Health Affairs, 2009
Each year the Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer Health Benefits takes a snapshot of the state of employee benefits in the United States, based on interviews with public and private employers. Our findings for 2009 show that families continue to face higher premiums, up about 5 percent from last year, and that cost sharing in the form of deductibles and copayments for office visits is greater as well. Average annual premiums in 2009 were 4,824forsinglecoverageand4,824 for single coverage and 4,824forsinglecoverageand13,375 for family coverage. Enrollment in highdeductible health plans held steady. We offer new insights about health risk assessments and how firms responded to the economic downturn. [
The Effect of Health Insurance Coverage on the Use of Medical Services
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2012
Substantial uncertainty exists regarding the causal effect of health insurance on the utilization of care. Most studies cannot determine whether the large differences in healthcare utilization between the insured and the uninsured are due to insurance status or to other unobserved differences between the two groups. In this paper, we exploit a sharp change in insurance coverage rates that results from young adults "aging out" of their parents' insurance plans to estimate the effect of insurance coverage on the utilization of emergency department (ED) and inpatient services. Using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and a census of emergency department records and hospital discharge records from seven states, we find that aging out results in an abrupt 5 to 8 percentage point reduction in the probability of having health insurance. We find that not having insurance leads to a 40 percent reduction in ED visits and a 61 percent reduction in inpatient hospital admissions. The drop in ED visits and inpatient admissions is due entirely to reductions in the care provided by privately owned hospitals, with particularly large reductions at for profit hospitals. The results imply that expanding health insurance coverage would result in a substantial increase in care provided to currently uninsured individuals.