Cross-subsidization in the market for employment-related health insurance
利用1987年全国家庭医疗支出调查数据，研究了就业相关健康保险市场的均衡特征，发现尽管存在市场分割，但家庭间存在大量风险池化，且结果不受企业规模或计划选择影响，提示改革需谨慎。
This paper uses data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey to examine the nature of equilibrium in the market for employment-related health insurance. We examine coverage generosity, premiums, and insurance benefits net of expenditures on premiums, showing that despite a degree of market segmentation, there was a substantial amount of pooling of heterogeneous risks in 1987 among households with employment-related coverage. Our results are largely invariant to (i) firm size and (ii) whether or not employers offer a choice among plans. Our results suggest the need for caution concerning incremental reforms that would weaken the link between employment and insurance without substituting alternative institutions for the pooling of risks.