Individual health insurance within the family: can subsidies promote family coverage?

Kanika Kapur, M. Susan Marquis and José J. Escarce

Open Access publications from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: This paper examines the role of price in health insurance coverage decisions within the family to guide policy in promoting whole family coverage. We analyze the factors that affect individual health insurance coverage among families, and explore family decisions about whom to cover and whom to leave uninsured. The analysis uses household data from California combined with abstracted individual health plan benefit and premium data. We find that premium subsidies for individual insurance would increase family coverage; however, their effect likely would be small relative to their implementation cost.

Keywords: Health insurance; Insurance coverage; Families & family life,; Subsidies; Decision making; Prices; Insurance, Health--United States; Insurance, Health--Finance; Family--Health and hygiene (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in: Inquiry, 44(3) 2007

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http://hdl.handle.net/10197/266 Open Access version, 2007 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/266

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