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E M P L O Y E E B E N E F I T S , C O M P E N S A T I O N
& P E N S I O N L A W
Vol. 6, No. 13: July 14, 2005
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Publisher: Employment, Labor, Compensation & Pension Law Journals
a division of
Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. (SSEP)
and Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Editor: PAMELA PERUN
Urban Institute
Mailto:pamela@planetnow.com
Copyright: SSEP, Inc. 2005. All rights reserved.
Leading Social Science Research Delivered To Your Desktop
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Topic of This Issue:
Health Benefits
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T A B L E of C O N T E N T S
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NEW and FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
"Union Status and Employment-Based Health Benefits"
EBRI Notes, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2005
PAUL FRONSTIN
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
"The Impact of Immigration on Health Insurance Coverage in the
United States"
EBRI Notes, Vol. 26, No. 6, June 2005
PAUL FRONSTIN
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
WORKING PAPERS
"Firms' Demand for Employment-Based Mental Health Benefits"
JUDITH A. SHINOGLE
RTI International
DAVID S. SALKEVER
Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
"Price and the Health Plan Choices of Retirees"
THOMAS C. BUCHMUELLER
University of California, Irvine
Economics/Health Care Area
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
"Employment-Contingent Health Insurance, Illness and Labor Supply
of Women: Evidence from Married Women with Breast Cancer"
CATHY J. BRADLEY
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Health Administration
DAVID NEUMARK
Public Policy Institute of California
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
ZHEHUI LUO
Michigan State University
Department of Economics
HEATHER BEDNAREK
Saint Louis University
Department of Economics
"How Does Health Insurance Affect Workers' Compensation Filing?"
DARIUS LAKDAWALLA
The RAND Corporation
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
ROBERT T. REVILLE
The RAND Corporation
Institute for Civil Justice
SETH SEABURY
The RAND Corporation
S S R N I N F O R M A T I O N
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EDITORIAL POLICIES
To provide the broadest coverage of research in Employee
Benefits, Compensation & Pension Law we do not referee working
papers. We accept abstracts of working papers in Employee
Benefits, Compensation & Pension Law whose topics suit the
coverage of the journal and which are part of the worldwide
scholarly discourse.
N E W and F O R T H C O M I N G Articles
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"Union Status and Employment-Based Health Benefits"
EBRI Notes, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2005
BY: PAUL FRONSTIN
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=722202
Contact: PAUL FRONSTIN
Email: Mailto:FRONSTIN@EBRI.ORG
Postal: Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Suite 600
2121 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037-1896 UNITED STATES
Phone: 202-775-6352
Fax: 202-775-6312
ABSTRACT:
This paper examines the relationship between health benefits and
union status. Union workers are much more likely to have
employment-based health benefits than nonunion workers. As union
workers account for a declining share of the working population,
further erosion of unionization is likely to coincide with an
overall erosion in the percentage of workers with
employment-based health benefits, although if the decline in
unionization is concentrated in the private sector, the
percentage of union workers with health benefits may increase
because union workers would be increasingly employed by the
public sector. This paper also examines the job characteristics
of union and nonunion workers and analyzes the health benefits
and job characteristics of union and nonunion workers.
JEL Classification: I1, J3
______________________________
"The Impact of Immigration on Health Insurance Coverage in the
United States"
EBRI Notes, Vol. 26, No. 6, June 2005
BY: PAUL FRONSTIN
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=748464
Contact: PAUL FRONSTIN
Email: Mailto:FRONSTIN@EBRI.ORG
Postal: Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Suite 600
2121 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037-1896 UNITED STATES
Phone: 202-775-6352
Fax: 202-775-6312
ABSTRACT:
This paper examines the issue of immigration and health
insurance coverage in the United States. It first examines the
status of health insurance coverage among immigrants as compared
with nonimmigrants. It then examines the impact of immigration
over the period 1994-2003, a much longer period than is covered
by previous studies.
JEL Classification: I1, I18
______________________________
W O R K I N G P A P E R Abstracts
_________________________________________________________________
"Firms' Demand for Employment-Based Mental Health Benefits"
BY: JUDITH A. SHINOGLE
RTI International
DAVID S. SALKEVER
Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=752014
Paper ID: NBER Working Paper No. W11436
Date: June 2005
Contact: DAVID S. SALKEVER
Email: Mailto:dsalkeve@jhsph.edu
Postal: Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Department of Health Policy and Management
615 N. Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205 UNITED STATES
Co-Auth: JUDITH A. SHINOGLE
Email: Mailto:jshinogle@rti.org
Postal: RTI International
1615 M Street NW, Suite 740
Washington, DC 20036-3209 UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
Employment-based health insurance is the main source of health
coverage for the non-elderly. Few previous studies have examined
the factors that impact employer decision-making in selecting
the coverage to offer to their employees and none have examined
generosity of mental health coverage. This paper uses
cross-sectional data from a survey of medium to large firms,
including information on employee characteristics, to examine
the empirical determinants of mental health coverage choices. We
find that the firm's demand for mental health coverage is
strongly influenced by employee characteristics. We also find
that certain state and local policy interventions directed at
enhancing access to mental health care have impacts on coverage
decisions. Specifically, public provision of mental health
lowers mental health coverage generosity and parity legislation
increases mental health generosity. Future research with panel
data is warranted to examine the causal effects of these
policies.
JEL Classification: I1
______________________________
"Price and the Health Plan Choices of Retirees"
BY: THOMAS C. BUCHMUELLER
University of California, Irvine
Economics/Health Care Area
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=734051
Paper ID: NBER Working Paper No. W11395
Date: June 2005
Contact: THOMAS C. BUCHMUELLER
Email: Mailto:TCBUCHMU@UCI.EDU
Postal: University of California, Irvine
Economics/Health Care Area
Irvine, CA 92697-3125 UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
This study analyzes health plan choices of retirees in an
employer-sponsored health benefits program that resembles
"premium support" models proposed for Medicare. In this program,
out-of-pocket premiums depend on when an individual retired and
his or her years of service as of that date. Since this price
variation is exogenous to unobserved plan attributes and retiree
characteristics, it possible to obtain unbiased premium
elasticity estimates. The results indicate a significantly
negative effect of premiums. The implied elasticities are at the
low end of the range found in previous studies on active
employees.
JEL Classification: I11, D12
______________________________
"Employment-Contingent Health Insurance, Illness and Labor Supply
of Women: Evidence from Married Women with Breast Cancer"
BY: CATHY J. BRADLEY
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Health Administration
DAVID NEUMARK
Public Policy Institute of California
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
ZHEHUI LUO
Michigan State University
Department of Economics
HEATHER BEDNAREK
Saint Louis University
Department of Economics
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=714923
Paper ID: IZA Discussion Paper No. 1577
Date: April 2005
Contact: DAVID NEUMARK
Email: Mailto:neumark@ppic.org
Postal: Public Policy Institute of California
500 Washington Street
Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94111 UNITED STATES
Phone: 415-291-4476
Fax: 415-291-4428
Co-Auth: CATHY J. BRADLEY
Email: Mailto:Cathy.Bradley@ht.msu.edu
Postal: Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Health Administration
P.O. Box 980203
Grant House 1008 East Clay Street
Richmond, VA 23284 UNITED STATES
Co-Auth: ZHEHUI LUO
Email: Mailto:luozhehu@msu.edu
Postal: Michigan State University
Department of Economics
East Lansing, MI 48824 UNITED STATES
Co-Auth: HEATHER BEDNAREK
Email: Mailto:BEDNARHL@SLU.EDU
Postal: Saint Louis University
Department of Economics
Lindell Boulevard
Saint Louis, MO 63108 UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
We examine the effects of employment-contingent health insurance
on married women's labor supply following a health shock. First,
we develop a theoretical model that examines the effects of
employment-contingent health insurance on the labor supply
response to a health shock, to clarify under what conditions
employment-contingent health insurance is likely to dampen the
labor supply response. Second, we empirically evaluate this
relationship using primary data. The results from our analysis
find that - as the model suggests is likely - health shocks
decrease labor supply to a greater extent among women insured by
their spouse's policy than among women with health insurance
through their own employer. Employment-contingent health
insurance appears to create incentives to remain working and to
work at a greater intensity when faced with a serious illness.
JEL Classification: I12, J22
______________________________
"How Does Health Insurance Affect Workers' Compensation Filing?"
BY: DARIUS LAKDAWALLA
The RAND Corporation
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
ROBERT T. REVILLE
The RAND Corporation
Institute for Civil Justice
SETH SEABURY
The RAND Corporation
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=702062
Paper ID: RAND Institute for Civil Justice Working Paper No.
WR-205-1-ICJ
Date: April 2005
Contact: SETH SEABURY
Email: Mailto:seabury@rand.org
Postal: The RAND Corporation
P.O. Box 2138
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 UNITED STATES
Phone: 310-393-0411
Fax: 310-451-6979
Co-Auth: DARIUS LAKDAWALLA
Email: Mailto:darius@rand.org
Postal: The RAND Corporation
P.O. Box 2138
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 UNITED STATES
Co-Auth: ROBERT T. REVILLE
Email: Mailto:Robert_Reville@rand.org
Postal: The RAND Corporation
Institute for Civil Justice
Santa Monica, CA UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
Workers' compensation provides insurance against job-related
injuries, but one-third to one-half of injured workers choose
not to file. Previous analysts have presumed this to result in
part from private health insurance, an alternative source of
health care that may discourage insured workers from taking the
time to file a workers' compensation claim. However, data from
the NLSY paint a much different and more troubling picture:
uninsured and more vulnerable workers are less likely to file
claims than the insured. We study this relationship and find
that it emerges as the result of employer characteristics.
Workers at firms who offer health insurance to employees are
more likely to file workers' compensation claims: the
characteristics of the firm are more important than the
insurance status of workers themselves; moreover, even repeat
injury sufferers are more likely to file during episodes in
which their employer offers health insurance. This suggests that
the workplace environment and employer incentives may have a
significant impact on the utilization of the workers'
compensation system.