Do increased premium subsidies affect how much health insurance is purchased? Evidence from the self-employed

Bradley Heim and Ithai Z. Lurie

Journal of Health Economics, 2009, vol. 28, issue 6, 1197-1210

Abstract: This paper estimates the effect of recent federal and state level increases in the deductibility of health insurance premiums for self-employed individuals, which reduced the after-tax price of health insurance, on both the take-up of coverage and the amount of insurance purchased. Using a panel of tax returns filed by self-employed taxpayers from 1999 to 2004, we estimate a take-up elasticity of -0.316 overall, with significantly higher elasticities for single taxpayers. On the intensive margin, we find an elasticity of -0.733 overall.

Keywords: Health; insurance; Self-employed; Elasticity; Tax; deduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:28:y:2009:i:6:p:1197-1210

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