Taking up or Turning Down: New Estimates of Household Demand for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Abstract

This study provides new estimates of demand for employer-sponsored health insurance, using the 1997–2001 linked Household Component-Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Our focus is on households' decisions to take up coverage through a worker's employer. We found a significant inverse relationship between the out-of-pocket premium and the probability of taking up coverage, with the price effect considerably larger when we used instrumental variables methods to account for endogenous out-of-pocket premiums. Additionally, workers in families with more children eligible for Medicaid were less likely to take up coverage.