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How much does health insurance cost? Comparison of premiums in administrative and survey data

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  • Larrimore, Jeff
  • Splinter, David

Abstract

Using newly available administrative data from the IRS, this paper studies the distribution of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. Previous estimates, in contrast, were almost exclusively from household surveys. After correcting for coverage limitations of IRS data, we find average premiums for employer-sponsored plans are roughly $1,000 higher in IRS records than in the Current Population Survey. The downward bias in the CPS results from underestimating premiums of married workers and topcoding of high premiums.

Suggested Citation

  • Larrimore, Jeff & Splinter, David, 2019. "How much does health insurance cost? Comparison of premiums in administrative and survey data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 132-135.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:174:y:2019:i:c:p:132-135
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2018.11.001
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    6. Hubert Janicki & Brett O�Hara & Alice Zawacki, 2013. "Comparing Methods For Imputing Employer Health Insurance Contributions In The Current Population Survey," Working Papers 13-41, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(2), pages 553-609.
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    11. 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).
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    Cited by:

    1. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Corinth, Kevin & Elwell, James & Larrimore, Jeff, 2019. "Evaluating the Success of President Johnson's War on Poverty: Revisiting the Historical Record Using a Full-Income Poverty Measure," IZA Discussion Papers 12855, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kevin Corinth & James Elwell & Jeff Larrimore, 2019. "Evaluating the Success of President Johnson’s War on Poverty: Revisiting the Historical Record Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure," NBER Working Papers 26532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lurie, Ithai Z. & Miller, Corbin L., 2023. "Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums and income in U.S. tax data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    4. Saki Sugano & Michio Yuda, 2024. "Beyond the public universal health insurance system: The effect of population aging on insurer’s responses," TUPD Discussion Papers 58, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health insurance premiums; Nonwage benefits distribution; IRS data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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