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The Impact of the Macroeconomy on Health Insurance Coverage: Evidence from the Great Recession
Author(s) -
Cawley John,
Moriya Asako S.,
Simon Kosali
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.3011
Subject(s) - unemployment , recession , great recession , health insurance , demographic economics , economics , unemployment rate , public health insurance , percentage point , safety net , income protection insurance , survey of income and program participation , panel data , point (geometry) , actuarial science , labour economics , medicine , health care , environmental health , economic growth , finance , keynesian economics , econometrics , geometry , mathematics
This paper investigates the impact of the macroeconomy on the health insurance coverage of Americans using panel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation for 2004–2010, a period that includes the Great Recession of 2007–2009. We find that a one percentage point increase in the state unemployment rate is associated with a 1.67 percentage point (2.12%) reduction in the probability that men have health insurance; this effect is strongest among college‐educated, white, and older (50–64 years old) men. For women and children, health insurance coverage is not significantly correlated with the unemployment rate, which may be the result of public health insurance acting as a social safety net. Compared with the previous recession, the health insurance coverage of men is more sensitive to the unemployment rate, which may be due to the nature of the Great Recession. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.