IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v16y1998i3p356-367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Well Do We Measure Employer‐Provided Health Insurance Coverage?

Author

Listed:
  • MARK C. BERGER
  • DAN A. BLACK
  • FRANK A. SCOTT

Abstract

Using data from the Current Population Survey and a new matched survey of employers and employees, this paper investigates error in the measurement of employer‐provided health insurance. The often‐used March CPS gives lower coverage estimates than the April/May CPS, which focuses on employer‐provided coverage. In addition, individuals who are in both the March CPS and April/May CPS often give inconsistent responses on their health insurance status, perhaps due to differences in the wording of the health insurance questions. A new survey shows that workers tend to report higher rates of coverage than do firms and that many individuals also disagree with their employers about their coverage. The differences in the firm and worker reports of coverage are uncorrelated with standard worker and firm characteristics, suggesting classical measurement error that does not bias the parameters of models explaining health coverage. When health insurance is used as an explanatory variable, however, measurement error results in significant bias toward zero.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark C. Berger & Dan A. Black & Frank A. Scott, 1998. "How Well Do We Measure Employer‐Provided Health Insurance Coverage?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(3), pages 356-367, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:16:y:1998:i:3:p:356-367
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00525.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00525.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00525.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freeman, Richard B, 1984. "Longitudinal Analyses of the Effects of Trade Unions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Mellow, Wesley & Sider, Hal, 1983. "Accuracy of Response in Labor Market Surveys: Evidence and Implications," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 331-344, October.
    3. Duncan, Greg J & Hill, Daniel H, 1985. "An Investigation of the Extent and Consequences of Measurement Error in Labor-Economic Survey Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 508-532, October.
    4. Bound, John & Krueger, Alan B, 1991. "The Extent of Measurement Error in Longitudinal Earnings Data: Do Two Wrongs Make a Right?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Bound, John & Brown, Charles & Duncan, Greg J & Rodgers, Willard L, 1994. "Evidence on the Validity of Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Labor Market Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 345-368, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Buchmueller & John Dinardo, 2002. "Did Community Rating Induce an Adverse Selection Death Spiral? Evidence from New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 280-294, March.
    2. Cynthia Bansak & Steven Raphael, 2007. "The effects of state policy design features on take-up and crowd-out rates for the state children's health insurance program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 149-175.
    3. Brent Kreider & Steven C. Hill, 2009. "Partially Identifying Treatment Effects with an Application to Covering the Uninsured," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(2).
    4. Craig Gundersen & Brent Kreider, 2008. "Food Stamps and Food Insecurity: What Can Be Learned in the Presence of Nonclassical Measurement Error?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(2), pages 352-382.
    5. Buchmueller Thomas C & Lo Sasso Anthony T & Wong Kathleen N, 2008. "How Did SCHIP Affect the Insurance Coverage of Immigrant Children?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-25, January.
    6. Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John V., 2011. "Identification of Expected Outcomes in a Data Error Mixing Model With Multiplicative Mean Independence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 29(1), pages 49-60.
    7. Lo Sasso, Anthony T. & Buchmueller, Thomas C., 2004. "The effect of the state children's health insurance program on health insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 1059-1082, September.
    8. Kreider, Brent, 2006. "Partially Identifying the Prevalence of Health Insurance Given Contaminated Sampling Response Error," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12588, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Mayer, Rebecca & Orazem, Peter F. & Wachenheim, William A., 2002. "Labor Supply Responses to Employer-Provided Health Insurance," ISU General Staff Papers 200204010800001219, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    10. Meyer, Rebecca & Orazem, Peter & Wachenheim, William A., 2002. "Labor Market Implications of Rising Costs of Employer-Provided Health Insurance," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10016, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. Stende, Anna Kincaid, 2005. "Rising health insurance costs, declining benefits, and metro-nonmetro and firm size compensation gaps," ISU General Staff Papers 2005010108000021928, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laisney, François & Pohlmeier, Winfried & Staat, Matthias, 1991. "Estimation of labour supply functions using panel data: a survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 91-05, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. John Abowd & Martha Stinson, 2011. "Estimating Measurement Error in SIPP Annual Job Earnings: A Comparison of Census Bureau Survey and SSA Administrative Data," Working Papers 11-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Cyrille Hagneré & Arnaud Lefranc, 2006. "Étendue et conséquences des erreurs de mesure dans les données individuelles d'enquête : une évaluation à partir des données appariées des enquêtes emploi et revenus fiscaux," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(3), pages 131-154.
    4. Lynn, Peter & Jäckle, Annette & Sala, Emanuela & P. Jenkins, Stephen, 2004. "Validation of survey data on income and employment: the ISMIE experience," ISER Working Paper Series 2004-14, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Bollinger, Christopher R, 1998. "Measurement Error in the Current Population Survey: A Nonparametric Look," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 576-594, July.
    6. Jungmin Lee & Sokbae Lee, 2012. "Does it Matter WHO Responded to the Survey? Trends in the U.S. Gender Earnings Gap Revisited," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(1), pages 148-160, January.
    7. Burt S. Barnow & David Greenberg, 2015. "Do Estimated Impacts on Earnings Depend on the Source of the Data Used to Measure Them? Evidence From Previous Social Experiments," Evaluation Review, , vol. 39(2), pages 179-228, April.
    8. Andrew S. Green, 2017. "Hours Off the Clock," Working Papers 17-44, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    9. Kristensen, Nicolai & Westergård-Nielsen, Niels C., 2006. "A Large-Scale Validation Study of Measurement Errors in Longitudinal Survey Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2329, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Bollinger, Christopher R. & Hirsch, Barry & Hokayem, Charles M. & Ziliak, James P., 2018. "Trouble in the Tails? What We Know about Earnings Nonresponse Thirty Years after Lillard, Smith, and Welch," IZA Discussion Papers 11710, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Thomas J. Kane & Cecilia Elena Rouse & Douglas Staiger, 1999. "Estimating Returns to Schooling When Schooling is Misreported," NBER Working Papers 7235, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Javier Escobal & Sonia Laszlo, 2008. "Measurement Error in Access to Markets," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(2), pages 209-243, April.
    13. Peter Gottschalk & Minh Huynh, 2010. "Are Earnings Inequality and Mobility Overstated? The Impact of Nonclassical Measurement Error," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 302-315, May.
    14. Christopher R. Bollinger, 2001. "Response Error and the Union Wage Differential," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(1), pages 60-76, July.
    15. de Nicola, Francesca & Giné, Xavier, 2014. "How accurate are recall data? Evidence from coastal India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 52-65.
    16. Arnaud Lefranc, 2003. "On the sensitivity of returns to seniority to the measurement of earnings," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(7), pages 789-811, November.
    17. Lisa M. Dragoset & Gary S. Fields, 2006. "U.S. Earnings Mobility: Comparing Survey-Based and Administrative-Based Estimates," Working Papers 55, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    18. Christopher R. Bollinger & Amitabh Chandra, 2005. "Iatrogenic Specification Error: A Cautionary Tale of Cleaning Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 235-258, April.
    19. Steve J. Davis & John Haltiwanger, 1991. "Wage Dispersion between and within U.S. Manufacturing Plants, 1963-86," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 22(1991 Micr), pages 115-200.
    20. Brownstone, David & Valletta, Robert G, 1996. "Modeling Earnings Measurement Error: A Multiple Imputation Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 705-717, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:16:y:1998:i:3:p:356-367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.