Burtless Gary, Milusheva Sveta
Boston College, USA.
Soc Secur Bull. 2013;73(1):83-108.
The increasing cost of employer contributions for employee health insurance reduces the share of compensation subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Rising insurance contributions can also have a more subtle effect on the Social Security tax base because they influence the distribution of money wages above and below the taxable maximum amount. This article uses the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to analyze trends in employer health insurance contributions and the distribution of those costs up and down the wage distribution. Our analysis shows that employer health insurance contributions increased faster than overall compensation during 1996-2008, but such contributions grew only slightly faster among workers earning less than the taxable maximum than they did among those earning more. Because employer health insurance contributions represent a much higher percentage of compensation below the taxable maximum, health insurance cost trends exerted a disproportionate downward pressure on money wages below the taxable maximum.
雇主为员工健康保险缴纳费用的增加，减少了应缴纳社会保障工资税的薪酬份额。保险缴费的增加对社会保障税基也可能产生更微妙的影响，因为它们会影响应税最高金额上下货币工资的分配。本文利用医疗支出小组调查来分析雇主健康保险缴费的趋势以及这些成本在工资分配中的上下分布情况。我们的分析表明，1996年至2008年期间，雇主健康保险缴费的增长速度快于总体薪酬，但在应税最高金额以下收入的工人中，此类缴费的增长仅略快于应税最高金额以上收入的工人。由于雇主健康保险缴费在应税最高金额以下的薪酬中占比更高，因此健康保险成本趋势对应税最高金额以下的货币工资施加了不成比例的下行压力。
