Mandate-Based Health Reform and the Labor Market: Evidence from the Massachusetts Reform

Jonathan T. Kolstad and Amanda Kowalski
Additional contact information
Jonathan T. Kolstad: University of Pennsylvania

No 15-219, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: We model the labor market impact of the key provisions of the national and Massachusetts "mandate-based" health reforms: individual mandates, employer mandates, and subsidies. We characterize the compensating differential for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI) and the welfare impact of reform in terms of "sufficient statistics." We compare welfare under mandate-based reform to welfare in a counterfactual world where individuals do not value ESHI. Relying on the Massachusetts reform, we find that jobs with ESHI pay $2,812 less annually, somewhat less than the cost of ESHI to employers. Accordingly, the deadweight loss of mandate-based health reform was approximately 8 percent of its potential size.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act; Massachusetts health reform; welfare effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I13 J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art ... ext=up_workingpapers (application/pdf)
This material is copyrighted. Permission is required to reproduce any or all parts.

Related works:
Journal Article: Mandate-based health reform and the labor market: Evidence from the Massachusetts reform (2016)
Working Paper: Mandate-Based Health Reform and the Labor Market: Evidence from the Massachusetts Reform (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upj:weupjo:15-219

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research 300 S. Westnedge Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49007 USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().