TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gruber,Jonathan
TI  - Taxes and Health Insurance
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8657
PY  - 2001
Y2  - December 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8657
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8657.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jonathan Gruber
MIT Department of Economics
E52-355
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02142-1347
Tel: 617/253-8892
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: gruberj@mit.edu
M1  - published as Jonathan Gruber. "Taxes and Health Insurance," in James M. Poterba, editor, "Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 16" MIT Press (2002)

M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2002-04-01
AB  - A common prescription for reducing the number of uninsured is to increase the tax subsidization of health insurance in the U.S. Yet, we already provide over $100 billion per year in tax subsidies to health insurance.  This paper provides an assessment of the past and potential impacts of taxation on health insurance coverage and costs.  I begin by reviewing the central facts on health insurance and taxation.  I then provide a framework for assessing the impacts of tax policies on health insurance coverage and costs, and I review the existing empirical evidence on the key behavioral parameters required to model these impacts. I conclude with the policy implications of these findings for tax policies to expand insurance coverage.
ER  -