The demand for health insurance among uninsured Americans: Results of a survey experiment and implications for policy

Alan Krueger and Ilyana Kuziemko

Journal of Health Economics, 2013, vol. 32, issue 5, 780-793

Abstract: Most existing work on the demand for health insurance focuses on employees’ decisions to enroll in employer-provided plans. Yet any attempt to achieve universal coverage must focus on the uninsured, the vast majority of whom are not offered employer-sponsored insurance. In the summer of 2008, we conducted a survey experiment to assess the willingness to pay for a health plan among a large sample of uninsured Americans. The experiment yields price elasticities of around one, substantially greater than those found in most previous studies. We use these results to estimate coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act, with and without an individual mandate. We estimate that 35 million uninsured individuals would gain coverage and find limited evidence of adverse selection.

Keywords: Health insurance; Uninsured; Affordable Care Act (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H25 H51 I13 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Demand for Health Insurance Among Uninsured Americans: Results of a Survey Experiment and Implications for Policy (2011)
Working Paper: The Demand for Health Insurance among Uninsured Americans: Results of a Survey Experiment and Implications for Policy (2011)
Working Paper: The Demand for Health Insurance among Uninsured Americans: Results of a Survey Experiment and Implications for Policy (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:32:y:2013:i:5:p:780-793

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.09.005

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