AN ANALYSIS OF THE DECLINE IN PRIVATE HEALTH-INSURANCE COVERAGE BETWEEN 1988 AND 1992

Objective. This paper analyzes the trend of decreasing private health insurance coverage in the United States between 1988 and 1992. Methods . Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we identify fac tors affecting the probability of having private health insurance cove rage in 1988 and 1992. We explore, using a regression-based decomposit ion analysis, the contribution of each of these factors to explaining the decrease in coverage over the period. Results. The results indicat e that health care cost inflation and decreases in real levels of fami ly income and hourly wages have played important roles in the decline in private health insurance coverage. Conclusions. The decomposition a nalysis suggests that, had health care costs, family income, wages, an d other variables in our model remained at their 1988 levels, the Unit ed States would have experienced a smaller decline in private health i nsurance coverage between 1988 and 1992.