Employers are the major providers of health insurance in the United States. As a result, individuals who lose their jobs may also lose their health insurance and those who would prefer a different job may not change in order to keep health insurance coverage, an effect termed "job lock." Targeted federal legislation may have reduced job lock. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) requires employers to offer former employees the option to purchase the employer-provided health insurance plan for 18 months after termination. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires insurers to renew COBRA-based coverage beyond the COBRA eligibility period. Previous research examining job lock has had mixed results. The authors used data from the March 1998-March 2000 Current Population Survey (an annual survey of 52,000 households) to re-examine the link between employer-provided health insurance and job change. The large sample size allowed a controlled quasi-experiment that focused on working married men with employer-provided health insurance and working spouses. The analysis measured job mobility as a change from one industry to another. The findings indicate a significant level of job lock among married men. While estimates are similar to those from previous research, the authors believe the study design and sample size resulted in more precise results. They conclude that public policy efforts to increase health insurance portability and reduce job lock address a real problem.
Employer-Provided Health Insurance and Job Change
- In: Contemporary Economic Policy
- By: Adams SJ
- Publisher: Western Economic Association International
- Published: 7/1/2004
Explore Related
- Topics
-
Research
- What Proven Strategies Help Maximize Enrollment in Public Health Insurance Programs?
- Should States Integrate Health Insurance Exchanges and Medicaid?
- What Consumer Protections are Embedded in the Affordable Care Act?
- What Can Help States Create Health Insurance Exchanges?
- What is the Link Between Having Health Insurance and Getting Adequate Health Care?
- Program Areas
Most Requested
Feature
Watch the Video, Earn the Credits
Learn how to improve care transitions and prevent avoidable hospital readmissions, and pick up nursing and medical education con-ed credits.
Read more
Blog Post
Heroic Nurse – the Last Surviving 'Angel of Bataan and Corregidor' – Passes Away
Mildred Dalton Manning, the last surviving member of a group of U.S. Army and Navy nurses taken prisoner in the Philippines at the start of ...
Read more
Feature
Commission to Build a Healthier America Public Meeting
Join the Commission on June 19, 2013 for a public meeting to raise awareness of how non-medical factors influence health and move public- an...
Read more
Feature
Commission to Build a Healthier America
The reconvened Commission to Build a Healthier America will provide new guidance in two key areas: early childhood and healthy communities.
Read more
Blog Post
“It’s a Lil’ Colored Girl to See You.”
"We often see the benefits of diversity as being for minorities," Angela Amar writes. "We seldom see that the majority benefits as well."
Read more
Blog Post
Pioneering Ideas Blog
Team members, grantees, and guests discuss breakthrough ideas that will allow us to move toward solving challenges in health care.
Read more
Blog Post
Public Health News Roundup: May 24
Legislation Would Dramatically Expand FDA’s Oversight of Compounding Pharmacies - Study: Diners Dramatically Underestimate Calories in Fast ...
Read more
Feature
RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize
The RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize honors outstanding community partnerships which are helping people live healthier lives. The six winners w...
Read more
Blog Post
Cultural Competency Matters
By “practicing” with medical simulation and by interacting with culturally diverse standardized patients, students and residents can develop...
Read more
Grantee
Cure Violence
Cure Violence, formerly known as CeaseFire, is a national public health strategy that reduces gun shootings and killings.
Read more
Feature
What's Next Health
What's Next Health: Conversations with Pioneers features leading thinkers and visionaries helping us explore ideas and trends important to t...
Read more
Blog Post
“Call the Midwife:” Horrors and Humanity in 1950s London
The strange pull of this series is its humanity, not its horrors.
Read more