What Do People Buy When They Don't Buy Health Insurance and What Does that Say About Why They are Uninsured?

62 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2003 Last revised: 7 Nov 2022

See all articles by Helen Levy

Helen Levy

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Institute for Social Research (ISR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Thomas DeLeire

Georgetown University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: July 2003

Abstract

Using data from the 1994 through 1998 Consumer Expenditure Surveys, we compare household spending on 16 different goods (food at home, food away from home, housing, transportation, alcohol and tobacco, interest, furniture and appliances, home maintenance, clothing, utilities, medical care, health insurance, entertainment, personal care, education, and other) for insured versus uninsured households, controlling for total expenditures and demographic characteristics. The analysis shows that the uninsured in the lowest quartile of the distribution of total expenditures spend more on housing, food at home, alcohol and tobacco, and education than do the insured. In contrast, households in the top quartile of the distribution of total expenditures spend more on transportation and furniture and appliances than do comparable insured households. These results are consistent with the idea that poor uninsured households face higher housing prices than do poor insured households. Further research is necessary to determine whether high housing prices can help explain why some households do not have insurance.

Suggested Citation

Levy, Helen and DeLeire, Thomas, What Do People Buy When They Don't Buy Health Insurance and What Does that Say About Why They are Uninsured? (July 2003). NBER Working Paper No. w9826, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=421787

Helen Levy (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Institute for Social Research (ISR) ( email )

Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Thomas DeLeire

Georgetown University ( email )

37th and O Streets, NW
100 Old North
Washington, DC 20057
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
79
Abstract Views
1,967
Rank
555,299
PlumX Metrics