Insurance and the Utilization of Medical Services Among the Self-Employed

52 Pages Posted: 30 Oct 2001

See all articles by Craig William Perry

Craig William Perry

Princeton University

Harvey S. Rosen

Princeton University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2001

Abstract

There has been substantial public policy concern over the relatively low rates of health insurance coverage among the self-employed in the United States. We use data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey conducted in 1996 to analyze how the self-employed and wage-earners differ both with respect to insurance coverage and utilization of a variety of health care services. Our results suggest that for the self-employed, the link between insurance and utilization of health care services is not as strong as assumed in the policy debate. For a number of medical care services, the self-employed have the same rates of utilization as wage-earners, despite the fact that they are substantially less likely to be insured. And when the self-employed are less likely than wage-earners to utilize a particular medical service, the differences are generally less than one would expect solely on the basis of the difference in insurance coverage rates. The self-employed thus appear to be able to finance access to health care from sources other than insurance. Further, analysis of out-of-pocket expenditures on health care suggests that doing so does not lead to substantial reductions in their ability to consume other goods and services. Finally, there is no evidence that children of the self-employed have less access to health care than the children of wage-earners. Hence, the public policy concern over the relative lack of health insurance among the self-employed may be somewhat misplaced.

JEL Classification: I12

Suggested Citation

Perry, Craig William and Rosen, Harvey S., Insurance and the Utilization of Medical Services Among the Self-Employed (October 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=287680 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.287680

Craig William Perry

Princeton University ( email )

22 Chambers Street
Princeton, NJ 08544-0708
United States

Harvey S. Rosen (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Department of Economics ( email )

001 Fisher Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

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