Bankruptcy as Implicit Health Insurance
82 Pages Posted: 23 Sep 2013 Last revised: 6 Jan 2015
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Bankruptcy as Implicit Health Insurance
Bankruptcy as Implicit Health Insurance
Date Written: November 17, 2014
Abstract
This paper examines the implicit health insurance households receive from the ability to declare bankruptcy. Exploiting multiple sources of variation in asset exemption law, I show that uninsured households with a greater financial cost of bankruptcy make higher out-of-pocket medical payments, conditional on the amount of care received. In turn, I find that households with greater wealth at risk are more likely to hold health insurance. The implicit insurance from bankruptcy distorts the insurance coverage decision. Using a microsimulation model, I calculate that the optimal Pigovian penalties are three-quarters as large as the average penalties under the Affordable Care Act.
Keywords: H51, I13, K35
JEL Classification: Health insurance, bankruptcy, Affordable Care Act (ACA), social insurance
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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