Introduction

In the United States during the last 50 years, employers have been the main providers of health insurance to the nonelderly. The role of the employer as the main provider of health insurance is unique to the United States and makes health insurance an important labor market issue. In the 1960s, the Medicare and Medicaid programs made the federal government the main provider of health insurance to the elderly and the needy. In recent years, two central concerns for policy have been rising health care costs and the growing proportion of the U.S. population lacking health insurance.

Issues

• What sre the effects of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on employment and business?
• What are the causes of rising health care costs, and how can those costs be contained?
• What are the options for insuring individuals and families who are not covered by employer-provided health insurance benefits or government programs?

Selected Institute Research

The Health and Wealth of a Nation: Employer-Based Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act
Nan L. Maxwell, Mathematica Policy Researcy
Upjohn Institute Press, 2012

Retiree Health Benefits as Deferred Compensation: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study
James Marton, Georgia State University
Stephen Woodbury, Upjohn Institute
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 12-182, June 2009

Health Insurance Tax Credits and Health Insurance Coverage of Low-Earning Single Mothers
Merve Cebi, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Stephen Woodbury, Upjohn Institute
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 09-158, June 2009

Revising Employers’ Role in Sponsoring and Financing Health Insurance and Medical Care
Katherine Swartz, Harvard University

Chapter 3 in A Future of Good Jobs
Timothy Bartik and Susan Houseman, editors
Upjohn Institute Press, 2008

The Political Economy of Health Care Reforms
Huizhong Zhou, Western Michigan University, editor
Upjohn Institute Press, 2001

More Institute Research about Health Insurance