TY  - JOUR
AU  - Monheit,Alan C.
AU  - Vistnes,Jessica Primoff
TI  - Health Insurance Enrollment Decisions: Preferences for Coverage, Worker Sorting, and Insurance Take Up
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12429
PY  - 2006
Y2  - August 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12429
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12429.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Alan C. Monheit
School of Public Health
University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey (UMDNJ)
683 Hoes Lane West
Piscataway, NJ  08854-5635
Tel: 732/235-2865
Fax: 732/235-4004
E-Mail: monheiac@umdnj.edu

Jessica P. Vistnes
Center for Cost and Financing Studies
Agency for Health Care and Research
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
E-Mail: jvistnes@ahrq.gov
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2006-08-14
AB  - The weak response by the uninsured to policy initiatives encouraging voluntary enrollment in health insurance has raised concerns regarding the extent to which the uninsured value health insurance. To address this issue, we use data from the 2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to examine the association between health insurance preferences and coverage status. We also consider the role of such preferences in decisions to seek out and enroll in employment-based coverage. We find that adults with weak or uncertain preferences for health insurance are more likely than persons with strong preferences to be uninsured and less likely to acquire coverage. Our econometric work indicates that workers with weak or uncertain preferences are less likely to obtain job offers with insurance, reinforcing prior evidence that workers sort among jobs according to preferences for coverage. We also find that workers with weak or uncertain preferences are less likely to enroll in offered coverage and we estimate the subsidy necessary to compensate such workers for the utility loss were they to enroll. Our results suggest a dual approach to expanding coverage that includes both subsidies and educational efforts to inform targeted groups among the uninsured about the value of health insurance.
ER  -