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The Consequences Of The Growth Of Health Insurance Premiums, Katherine Baicker, Amitabh Chandra

Dartmouth Scholarship

n the United States, two-thirds of the non-elderly population is covered by employer- provided health insurance (EHI). According to a Kaiser Family Foundation national survey (2003), the cost of EHI has increased by over 59 percent since 2000 with no accompanying in- crease in the scale or scope of benefits. These increases in health insurance premiums may have significant effects on labor markets, including changes in the number of jobs, hours worked per employee, wages, and compensation packages. Indeed, it is possible that a significant portion of the increase in the uninsured population may be a consequence of employers shedding …