Household Labor Search, Spousal Insurance, and Health Care Reform

Hanming Fang and Andrew J. Shephard

No 26350, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Health insurance in the United States for the working age population has traditionally been provided in the form of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI). If employers offered ESHI to their employees, they also typically extended coverage to their spouse and dependents. Provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) significantly alter the incentive for firms to offer insurance to the spouses of employees. We evaluate the long-run impact of ACA on firms’ insurance offerings and on household outcomes by developing and estimating an equilibrium job search model in which multiple household members are searching for jobs. The distribution of job offers is determined endogenously, with compensation packages consisting of a wage and menu of insurance offerings (premiums and coverage) that workers select from. Using our estimated model we find that households’ valuation of employer-sponsored spousal health insurance is significantly reduced under ACA, and with an “employee-only” health insurance contract emerging among low productivity firms. We relate these outcomes to the specific provisions in the ACA.

JEL-codes: G22 I11 I13 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-dge, nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-lma
Note: EH LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Household Labor Search, Spousal Insurance, and Health Care Reform (2019)
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