The Dynamics of Health Insurance Coverage

Abstract

In this paper I examine how health insurance coverage changes over the life cycle. Comparing to findings in cross-sectional studies that 16 percent of non-elderly U.S. population are not covered by health insurance, my analysis shows that only 2 percent of non-elderly male household heads are consistently uninsured between 1997 and 2006. Besides, only 70 percent of those in my sample are consistently covered by health insurance, which means around 28 percent are moving into and out of insurance coverage. This suggests a policy reform that focuses on providing continuous health insurance coverage in addition to covering those uninsured.