The Value of Health Insurance: A Household Job Search Approach

Gabriella Conti, Rita Ginja and Renata Narita

No 2018-050, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: Do households value access to free health insurance when making labor supply decisions? We answer this question using the introduction of universal health insurance in Mexico, the Seguro Popular (SP), in 2002. The SP targeted individuals not covered by Social Security and broke the link between access to health care and job contract. We start by using the rollout of SP across municipalities in a differences-in-differences approach, and find an increase in informality of 4% among low-educated families with children. We then develop and estimate a household search model that incorporates the pre-reform valuation of formal sector amenities relative to the alternatives (informal sector and non-employment) and the value of SP. The estimated value of the health insurance coverage provided by SP is below the government's cost of the program, and the corresponding utility gain is, at most, 0.56 per each peso spent.

Keywords: search; household behavior; health insurance; informality; unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 I13 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-lab
Note: M, HI
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Conti_ ... health-insurance.pdf First version, July 26, 2018 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Value of Health Insurance: A Household Job Search Approach (2018)
Working Paper: The value of health insurance: a household job search approach (2018)
Working Paper: The Value of Health Insurance: A Household Job Search Approach (2018)
Working Paper: The Value of Health Insurance: A Household Job Search Approach (2018)
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