TY - JOUR
T1 - Short-run effects of job loss on health conditions, health insurance, and health care utilization
AU - Schaller, Jessamyn
AU - Stevens, Ann Huff
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for comments from participants at the University of Arizona , the University of California Merced, the University of California Riverside, Pomona College, Georgia Institute of Technology , and the Annual Meetings of the Society of Labor Economists. Finally, support from the National Science Foundation , IBSS grant # SMA1327768 is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - Job loss in the United States is associated with reductions in income and long-term increases in mortality rates. This paper examines the short-run changes in health, health care access, and health care utilization after job loss that lead to these long-term effects. Using a sample with more than 10,000 individual job losses and longitudinal data on a wide variety of health-related outcomes, we show that job loss results in worse self-reported health, activity limitations, and worse mental health, but is not associated with statistically significant increases in a variety of specific chronic conditions. Among the full sample of workers, we see reductions in insurance coverage, but little evidence of reductions in health care utilization after job loss. Among the subset of displaced workers with chronic conditions and those for whom the lost job was their primary source of insurance we do see reductions in doctor's visits and prescription drug usage.
AB - Job loss in the United States is associated with reductions in income and long-term increases in mortality rates. This paper examines the short-run changes in health, health care access, and health care utilization after job loss that lead to these long-term effects. Using a sample with more than 10,000 individual job losses and longitudinal data on a wide variety of health-related outcomes, we show that job loss results in worse self-reported health, activity limitations, and worse mental health, but is not associated with statistically significant increases in a variety of specific chronic conditions. Among the full sample of workers, we see reductions in insurance coverage, but little evidence of reductions in health care utilization after job loss. Among the subset of displaced workers with chronic conditions and those for whom the lost job was their primary source of insurance we do see reductions in doctor's visits and prescription drug usage.
KW - Health
KW - Health insurance
KW - Layoffs
KW - Unemployment
KW - Well-being
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.07.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.07.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 26250651
AN - SCOPUS:84942552091
SN - 0167-6296
VL - 43
SP - 190
EP - 203
JO - Journal of Health Economics
JF - Journal of Health Economics
ER -