Current high-risk pools insure around 190,000 high-risk individuals at a total cost of around $9,400 per enrollee. Expanding high risk pools so they insure a total of one million individuals would necessitate raising an additional $7.6 billion in revenue through premiums, allocations on...

This paper considers the use of an inheritance tax and payout restrictions to fund guarantees on a multi-pillar pension plan. A simulation model for a guaranteed multi-pillar benefit based on a pension plan similar to the old Chilean pension system reveals that the delivery of an economically...

This empirical paper, conducted with survey data on working age adults from the 2006 Medical Expenditures Panel (MEPS), assesses the determinants of office-based doctor visits and emergency room visits. Office-based doctor services are a “normal good” which increase in demand with income...

President-elect Obama has proposed taxing high-income individuals and using the funds to improve the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds. Existing taxes, used to fund Social Security and Medicare, have only been applied to wages. Current proposals have been vague about what...

Even though the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has strong bipartisan support, the Bush Administration and the 110th Congress were unable to agree to a comprehensive reauthorization of the program. The Bush Administration disagreed with a bipartisan majority of the House of...

As the election of 2008 approaches most of the attention of investors and workers is on mortgage defaults, the banking crisis and the stock market. Important changes occurring in the labor market are being overlooked. The monthly unemployment rate in August 2008, 6.1%, is around the 70th...

This paper uses data from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance (BRFSS) System and information on state health insurance regulation tabulated by the Center for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) to examine the impact of health limitations on the factors determining whether a working-age...

In the United States, over 90% of working-age adults with insurance receive their health insurance through their employer. However, not all employers offer employer sponsored insurance (ESI). Whether or not a worker receives an ESI offer is shown to be primarily impacted by family income and the...

This paper examines the relationship between part-time employment and Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI) coverage during the recent recession. An increase in the share of workers employed part time reduces ESI coverage because part-time workers have lower coverage rates than full-time workers....

This paper examines how diabetes and complications from diabetes affect the impact of age on the probability a person nearing retirement age remains employed. The results presented here indicate that diabetics, especially those with complications tend to leave the workforce prior to 62 and...