Preference diversity and the breadth of employee health insurance options

To examine the effect of worker heterogeneity, firm size, and establishment size on the breadth of employer health insurance offerings. The data were drawn from the 1993 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Employer Health Insurance Survey of 22,000 business establishments selected randomly from ten state...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health services research 2001-10, Vol.36 (5), p.911-911
Main Authors: Moran, J R, Chernew, M E, Hirth, R A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Company financing
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data Collection
Decision Making, Organizational
Employee benefits
Employees
Employers
Finance
Foundations
Group health insurance
Group insurance
Health Benefit Plans, Employee - statistics & numerical data
Health insurance
Health insurance industry
Health Services Research
Humans
Insurance Coverage
Insurance Selection Bias
Management science
Models, Statistical
Preferences
Studies
United States
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To examine the effect of worker heterogeneity, firm size, and establishment size on the breadth of employer health insurance offerings. The data were drawn from the 1993 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Employer Health Insurance Survey of 22,000 business establishments selected randomly from ten states. The analysis was cross-sectional, using ordered probit models to relate the breadth of plan offerings to firm characteristics. Firms with more diverse workforces offered a more diverse set of health insurance options. Firm and establishment size independently influenced the breadth of plan offerings. Employers are responsive to worker heterogeneity when determining the breadth of their health insurance offerings. However, diseconomies of scale in the purchase and administration of health insurance appear to limit the extent to which small employers can accommodate diverse worker preferences.
ISSN:0017-9124
1475-6773