60 research outputs found
Residential Immobility of the Elderly: An Empirical Investigation
No full textThis paper investigates the reasons for the substantially lower residential mobility rates among the elderly than the non-elderly. Households with low propensities to move are posited to be those that face few benefits from moving-that is, they are near equilibrium with respect to their housing consumption and tenure choice-or those that face large costs to moving. Using household data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, measures of housing disequilibrium and tenure disequilibrium were constructed. Elderly renters were found to be largely in equilibrium and would benefit little from moving. In contrast, elderly homeowners are more likely to be in substantial disequilibrium than their younger counterparts. Conclusions as to which costs to moving are most salient could not be made. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
Small Firms' Demand for Health Insurance: The Decision to Offer Insurance
No full text This paper explores the decisions by small business establishments (<100 workers) to offer health insurance. We estimate a theoretically derived model of establishments' demand for insurance using nationally representative data from the 1997 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Employer Health Insurance Survey and other sources. Findings show that offer decisions reflect worker demand, labor market conditions, and establishments' costs of providing coverage. Premiums have a moderate effect on offer decisions (elasticity = –.54), though very small establishments and those employing low-wage workers are more responsive. This suggests that premium subsidies to employers would be an inefficient means of increasing insurance coverage. Greater availability of public insurance and safety net care has a small negative effect on offer decisions. </jats:p
Health and the Cost of Nongroup Insurance
No full text This analysis estimates a selection-adjusted model of the premium for nongroup insurance to measure the effect of health status on the cost of nongroup insurance. Using data from two recent national surveys, the probability of buying nongroup insurance is about 50% lower for people in fair or poor health compared to similar people in excellent health. Correcting for selection, premiums are about 15% higher for people with modest health problems, and 43% to 50% higher for people with major health problems compared to those in excellent health. We use the selection-corrected premiums to simulate the effects on the price and affordability of nongroup insurance for the uninsured under two recent tax credit proposals. </jats:p
Health and the Cost of Nongroup Insurance
No full textThis analysis estimates a selection-adjusted model of the premium for nongroup insurance to measure the effect of health status on the cost of nongroup insurance. Using data from two recent national surveys, the probability of buying nongroup insurance is about 50% lower for people in fair or poor health compared to similar people in excellent health. Correcting for selection, premiums are about 15% higher for people with modest health problems, and 43% to 50% higher for people with major health problems compared to those in excellent health. We use the selection-corrected premiums to simulate the effects on the price and affordability of nongroup insurance for the uninsured under two recent tax credit proposals
Modest and Uneven: Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities
No full textAbstract available at publisher's web site
A New Approach to Risk-Spreading via Coverage-Expansion Subsidies
No full textThe persistently large number of uninsured, roughly 40 million per year since 1993, continues to elicit bipartisan policy interest. Coverage-expansion proposals without mandates, by far the most common since the defeat of the Clinton plan, must address risk-pooling realities in private markets. Insurers have strong financial incentives to segment risks and minimize pooling of heterogeneous risks, and narrow risk-pooling will diminish the adequacy of premium subsidies based on income alone, at least for higher-risk individuals. The current debate over flat tax credits and the non-group market is a case in point (Blumberg, 2001; Center for Studying Health System Change, 2002; Jack Hadley and James D. Reschovsky, 2002). We, along with nine other teams, were asked to develop a proposal that would expand coverage in a large and creative way (see Holahan et al., 2001). The proposal we developed would subsidize low-income individuals and families but also addresses the issue of inefficient and inequitable risk-pooling.
Why Do Hispanics Have So Little Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance?
No full text This paper investigates low rates of employer health insurance coverage among Hispanics using national data from the Community Tracking Study Household Survey. Interview language served as a proxy for the degree of assimilation. Findings indicate that English-speaking Hispanics are more similar to whites in their labor market experiences and coverage than they are to Spanish-speaking Hispanics. Spanish-speakers' very low human capital (including their inability to speak English) results in much less access to job-based insurance. Though less important, Spanish-speaking Hispanics' demand for employer-sponsored insurance appears lower than that of English-speaking Hispanics or whites. Results suggest that language and job training may be the most effective way to bolster Hispanics' insurance coverage. </jats:p
Market incentives to encourage household waste recycling: Paying for what you throw away
No full textThis article investigates the use of market incentives to encourage household waste recycling by pricing waste-disposal services according to the quantity of waste generated. We use a natural experiment from an upstate New York county to examine how quantity-based pricing of waste disposal affects reported household recycling behavior, when used by itself or in conjunction with curbside pickup of recyclables or mandatory recycling laws. Curbside pickup was found to have the greatest effect on reported recycling behavior, although higher waste-disposal prices might alter these conclusions. Other concerns about quantity-based pricing of solid waste-distributional effects, public acceptance, and adverse incentives-are also examined.
Federal policy and the mobility of older homeowners
No full textThe elderly's immobility is of public policy concern because it may jeopardize both individual and community welfare. Elderly households may face obstacles to moving which either lock them into their current homes or out of suitable alternatives. Only one federal policy (the one-time capital gains exclusion), addresses the mobility of the elderly, but it has been ineffective and probably inequitable. Alternative policies range from targeting the provision more tightly to reallocating its 2 billion in annual revenue losses for appropriate categorical assistance. Until the elderly's immobility is more clearly understood, tighter targeting is the preferred course.
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