ANALYZING FIRM SIZE DIFFERENCES IN INSURANCE COVERAGE

这项研究的目的是确定重要的因素， 与大约3000万美国人缺乏保险有关， 他们没有医疗保险 许多没有保险的人受雇于小企业， 事务所 多项建议旨在改善问题， 小型企业团体健康保险的可获得性和负担能力 事务所 这种方法的支持者认为，如果保险价格是 对于小公司和大公司一样，覆盖率将是 相似 虽然保险市场确实存在价格差异， 导致小公司覆盖率较低的问题， 越来越多的证据表明，其他因素有助于观察到的 覆盖范围的差异（例如，不同的工人）。 因此，分析 公司规模差异在缺乏医疗保险覆盖率方面的作用是 关键是要了解问题和可能的影响， 策略来解决它。 许多研究和政策建议都只注重公司规模， 健康保险覆盖率的关键决定因素。 这些研究和 这些建议忽视了这样一个事实，即受雇于小公司的个人可能会被 不同于那些受雇于大公司的人，这些差异 可能会影响他们对健康保险的需求。 利用1987年全国医疗支出调查的数据，我将：1） 研究公司规模，个人特征， 工作相关因素和保险覆盖范围; 2）分解以下方面的差距： 大公司和小公司雇员之间的健康保险覆盖面 归因于工人特征、企业规模效应和 工人和企业规模因素的相互作用。 研究结果将有助于澄清以下方面的相对重要性： 对医疗保险覆盖率之间的差距的各种解释 大公司和小公司的员工。 这项研究应该有助于了解 针对小企业的改革措施成功的可能性。

The purpose of this study is to identify the important factors that are associated with the lack of insurance for the roughly 30 million Americans who are medically uninsured. Many of the uninsured are employed by small firms. A number of proposals seek to ameliorate the problem by changing the availability and affordability of group health insurance for small firms. Proponents of this approach contend that if insurance prices were the same for small firms as for large firms, that coverage rates would be similar. Although price differentials do exist in the insurance market and contribute to the problem of lower coverage rates among small firms, there is growing evidence that other' factors contribute to the observed differences in coverage (e.g., heterogeneous workers). Thus, an analysis of firm size differentials in the lack of health insurance coverage is central to understanding the problem and the likely impact of proposed strategies to solve it. Many studies and policy proposals have focused on firm size alone as the critical determinant of health insurance coverage. These studies and proposals ignore the fact that individuals employed by small firms may be different from those employed by large firms, and that these differences may affect their demand for health insurance. Using data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditures Survey, I will: 1) examine the relationship among firm size, personal characteristics, work-related factors, and insurance coverage; and 2) decompose the gap in health insurance coverage between employees of large and small firms into the portions attributable to worker characteristics, firm size effects, and the interaction of worker and firm size factors. The results of the study will help clarify the relative importance of various explanations for the gap in health insurance coverage between employees of large and small firms. The study should shed light on the likelihood that reform measures aimed at small firms will succeed.