Elena Capatina
Approximately one in four workers aged 25-40 who lacked private health insurance in 2010 in the US did not enroll in employer-provided health insurance (EPHI) that was available to them. In this paper, I study selection in EPHI among eligible employees using data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey from 2001 to 2010 and from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth ’97 in 2010.
Controlling for firm and job characteristics that proxy for the choice of plans and premiums faced by workers, I find that individuals aged 25-40 who decline EPHI and remain privately uninsured have significantly worse health and health behaviors than those who enroll. No correlation between health and insurance take up is found in the 41-64 age group.
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