Health, Health Insurance, and Inequality

Chaoran Chen, Zhigang Feng and Jiaying Gu

Working Papers from University of Toronto, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper identifies a "health premium" of insurance coverage that the insured is more likely to stay healthy or recover from unhealthy status. We introduce this feature into the prototypical macro-health model and estimate the baseline economy by matching the observed joint distribution of health insurance purchase, health status and income over the life cycle. Quantitative analysis reveals that an individual’s insurance status has substantial and persistent impact on health, which will be reinforced by and subsequently amplify the feedback effect of health on labor earnings and income inequality. Providing "Universal Health Coverage" would narrow health and life expectancy gaps, with a mixed effect on income distribution in absence of any additional redistribution of income or wealth.

Keywords: Health Insurance; Health Disparity; Income Distribution; Health Care Policy. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 E60 G51 I14 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: Unknown pages
Date: 2024-01-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge
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Working Paper: Health, Health Insurance, and Inequality (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-767

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