TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bundorf,M. Kate
AU  - Pauly,Mark V.
TI  - Is Health Insurance Affordable for the Uninsured?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9281
PY  - 2002
Y2  - October 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9281
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9281.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Kate Bundorf
Health Research and Policy
Stanford University
HRP T108
Stanford, CA 94305-5405
Tel: 650/725-0067
Fax: 650/725-6951
E-Mail: bundorf@stanford.edu

Mark Pauly
 Department of Health Care Management
University of Pennsylvania
208 Colonial Penn Center
3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6218
Tel: NA
Fax: NA
E-Mail: pauly@wharton.upenn.edu
AB  - In this paper, we investigate the meaning of affordability' in the context of health insurance. Assessing the relationship between the affordability of coverage and the large number of uninsured in the U.S. is important for understanding the barriers to purchasing coverage for the uninsured and evaluating the role of policy in reducing this number. We propose several definitions of affordability and examine the implications of alternative definitions on estimates of the proportion of currently uninsured who are unable to afford coverage. We find that, depending on the definition, health insurance was affordable to between one-quarter and three-quarters of the uninsured in 2000.
ER  -