IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/56719.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does a Lack of Health Insurance Elicit an Increase in the Rate of Voluntary Military Enlistment in the U.S.? The "Military Health Care Magnet Hypothesis," 1974-2007

Author

Listed:
  • Cebula, Richard
  • Nair-Reichert, Usha
  • Taylor, Kyle

Abstract

This study addresses a question that has not been researched much previously, namely, does the unavailability of health insurance act as an incentive for persons to enlist in the military in the U.S.? This relationship is proffered as the “Military Health Care Magnet Hypothesis.” The present study endeavors to provide insight into this issue within a cost-benefit framework. The empirical analysis uses annual data for the years 1974 through 2007, the only years to date for which all of the variables in the model are dependable after the end of military conscription in the U.S. in 1973. Both OLS and 2SLS results demonstrate, among other things, that the greater the percentage of the civilian population without health insurance, the greater the rate of enlistment in the U.S. Army.

Suggested Citation

  • Cebula, Richard & Nair-Reichert, Usha & Taylor, Kyle, 2009. "Does a Lack of Health Insurance Elicit an Increase in the Rate of Voluntary Military Enlistment in the U.S.? The "Military Health Care Magnet Hypothesis," 1974-2007," MPRA Paper 56719, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:56719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/56719/1/MPRA_paper_56719.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Cutler, 1994. "A Guide to Health Care Reform," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 13-29, Summer.
    2. Given, Ruth S., 1996. "Economies of scale and scope as an explanation of merger and output diversification activities in the health maintenance organization industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 685-713, December.
    3. Jonathan Gruber, 2003. "Evaluating Alternative Approaches to Incremental Health-Insurance Expansion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 271-276, May.
    4. Allen C. Goodman & Miron Stano, 2000. "Hmos and Health Externalities: A Local Public Good Perspective," Public Finance Review, , vol. 28(3), pages 247-269, May.
    5. Richard Cebula, 2006. "A Further Analysis of Determinants of Health Insurance Coverage," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 12(3), pages 382-389, August.
    6. Sherry Glied, 2003. "Health Care Costs: On the Rise Again," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 125-148, Spring.
    7. Harris, Katherine M. & Keane, Michael P., 1998. "A model of health plan choice:: Inferring preferences and perceptions from a combination of revealed preference and attitudinal data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1-2), pages 131-157, November.
    8. Kevin Frick & Anthony Bopp, 2005. "Poverty: Insurance Theory and the Medically Uninsured," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 451-459, December.
    9. repec:kap:iaecre:v:12:y:2006:i:3:p:382-389 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Richard Cebula, 2006. "A Further Analysis of Determinants of Health Insurance Coverage," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 12(3), pages 382-389, August.
    2. repec:kap:iaecre:v:12:y:2006:i:3:p:382-389 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Richard J. Cebula, 2008. "Small Firm Size and Health Insurance: A Private Enterprise Perspective," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 24(Fall 2008), pages 51-77.
    4. Cebula, Richard, 2010. "Effects of Health Insurance and Medical Care Inflation on Voluntary Enlistment in the Army: An Empirical Study in the United States," MPRA Paper 51246, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Alexander, Gigi & Cebula, Richard & Saadatmand, Yassamand, 2005. "Determinants of the Percent of the Population Enrolled in HMOs," MPRA Paper 51268, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Richard Cebula & Anthony Bopp, 2008. "Estimating the Percentage of the US Population without Health Insurance: An Ecological Approach," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 14(3), pages 336-347, August.
    7. Cebula, Richard & Bopp, Anthony, 2007. "The Small Firms Hypothesis and the Percent of U.S. Society without Health Insurance: An Investigation Using Alternative Means Tests," MPRA Paper 56722, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. repec:kap:iaecre:v:14:y:2008:i:3:p:336-347 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Richard J. Cebula & Zachary Ehrlich & Maggie Foley, 2024. "The impact of higher rent levels on private health insurance enrollment: An exploratory analysis for a single state, Virginia," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 7-15, January.
    10. Hugo Benitez-Silva & Moshe Buchinsky & John Rust & Emine Boz & Joseph B. Nichols & Sharbani Roy & Ignez Tristao, 2005. "Health Status, Insurance, and Expenditures in the Transition from Work to Retirement," Department of Economics Working Papers 05-11, Stony Brook University, Department of Economics.
    11. Buchmueller, Thomas, 2006. "Price and the health plan choices of retirees," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 81-101, January.
    12. Martine Audibert & Yong He & Jacky Mathonnat, 2013. "Two-Period Comparison of Healthcare Demand with Income Growth and Population Aging in Rural China: Implications for Adjustment of the Healthcare Supply and Development," Working Papers halshs-00846088, HAL.
    13. Keane, Michael, 2004. "Modeling Health Insurance Choices in “Competitive” Markets," MPRA Paper 55198, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. John F. Cogan & R. Glenn Hubbard & Daniel P. Kessler, 2007. "Evaluating Effects of Tax Preferences on Health Care Spending and Federal Revenues," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 21, pages 65-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Hanming Fang & Michael P. Keane & Dan Silverman, 2008. "Sources of Advantageous Selection: Evidence from the Medigap Insurance Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(2), pages 303-350, April.
    16. Denzil G. Fiebig & Michael P. Keane & Jordan Louviere & Nada Wasi, 2010. "The Generalized Multinomial Logit Model: Accounting for Scale and Coefficient Heterogeneity," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 393-421, 05-06.
    17. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2007. "Discrete Choice Models With Multiple Unobserved Choice Characteristics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(4), pages 1159-1192, November.
    18. Keane, Michael & Stavrunova, Olena, 2016. "Adverse selection, moral hazard and the demand for Medigap insurance," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 190(1), pages 62-78.
    19. Johannes Spinnewijn, 2017. "Heterogeneity, Demand for Insurance, and Adverse Selection," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 308-343, February.
    20. Granlund, David & Sundström, David, 2018. "Physicians prescribing originals causes welfare losses," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 143-146.
    21. Martine AUDIBERT & Yong HE & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2017. "What does demand heterogeneity tell us about health care provider choice in rural China?," Working Papers P193, FERDI.
    22. Ramón Castano & Andrés Zambrano, 2007. "Financial protection for the poor in Colombia: the effects of a subsidized health insurance scheme," Documentos de Trabajo 2723, Universidad del Rosario.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    voluntary military enlistment; health insurance unavailability; cost-benefit model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    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:pra:mprapa:56719. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.