Health Insurance Provision and Labor Market Efficiency in the United States / Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

By:

Holtz-Eakin, Douglas

Contributor(s):

National Bureau of Economic Research

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w4388.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1993.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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Abstract: Health Insurance has claimed a prominent place on the policy agenda in the United States. Critics argue that the status quo has lead to spiraling health care costs, an inequitable distribution of quality medical care, and that employer-provided health insurance has "locked" individuals into jobs, thereby interfering with the efficient matching of employers and employees. In contrast to the United States, Germany guarantees virtually all citizens health insurance. Insurance is portable, but the cost may change when an individual changes jobs, again leading to the potential for job-lock. This paper assesses the empirical magnitude of health insurance-related impediments to job mobility in the United States and Germany, The results show little evidence that health insurance provision interferes with job mobility in either the United States or Germany, thus suggesting that these employer-based systems for providing the health insurance portion of the social safety net do not alter this aspect of labor market efficiency.

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Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w4388 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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Previous	nber w4385 Effects of Alcohol Price Policy on Youth /	nber w4386 The Allocation of Time: Young Versus Elderly Households in Japan /	nber w4387 Is A Value Added Tax Progressive? Annual Versus Lifetime Incidence Measures /	nber w4388 Health Insurance Provision and Labor Market Efficiency in the United States /	nber w4389 Monopolistic Competition and International Trade: Reconsidering the Evidence /	nber w4390 Does Employment Protection Inhibit Labor Market Flexibility? Lessons from Germany, France, and Belgium /	nber w4391 Do 401(k) Contributions Crowd Out Other Persoanl Saving? /	Next

June 1993.

Health Insurance has claimed a prominent place on the policy agenda in the United States. Critics argue that the status quo has lead to spiraling health care costs, an inequitable distribution of quality medical care, and that employer-provided health insurance has "locked" individuals into jobs, thereby interfering with the efficient matching of employers and employees. In contrast to the United States, Germany guarantees virtually all citizens health insurance. Insurance is portable, but the cost may change when an individual changes jobs, again leading to the potential for job-lock. This paper assesses the empirical magnitude of health insurance-related impediments to job mobility in the United States and Germany, The results show little evidence that health insurance provision interferes with job mobility in either the United States or Germany, thus suggesting that these employer-based systems for providing the health insurance portion of the social safety net do not alter this aspect of labor market efficiency.