Meiselbach Mark K, Abraham Jean M
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
J Health Econ. 2023 Dec;92:102825. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102825. Epub 2023 Oct 27.
Employers may respond to minimum wage increases by adjusting their health benefits. We examine the impact of state minimum wage increases on employer health benefit offerings using the 2002-2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance/Employer Component data. Our primary regression specifications are difference-in-differences models that estimate the relationship between within-state changes in employer-sponsored insurance and minimum wage laws over time. We find that a $1 increase in minimum wages is associated with a 0.92 percentage point (p.p.) decrease in the percentage of employers offering health insurance, largely driven by small employers and employers with a greater share of low-wage employees. A $1 increase is also associated with a 1.83 p.p. increase in the prevalence of plans with a deductible requirement, but we do not find consistent evidence that other benefit characteristics are affected. We find no consequent change in uninsurance, likely explained by an increase in Medicaid enrollment.
雇主可能会通过调整健康福利来应对最低工资的上涨。我们利用2002 - 2020年医疗支出面板调查——保险/雇主部分数据，研究了州最低工资上涨对雇主提供健康福利的影响。我们的主要回归规范是差分模型，用于估计雇主赞助保险的州内变化与最低工资法随时间的关系。我们发现，最低工资每上涨1美元，提供医疗保险的雇主比例就会下降0.92个百分点（pp），这主要是由小雇主和低工资员工比例较高的雇主推动的。最低工资每上涨1美元，免赔额要求的计划普及率也会增加1.83个百分点，但我们没有发现其他福利特征受到影响的一致证据。我们发现未参保情况没有随之改变，这可能是由于医疗补助登记人数增加所致。
