Chronic illness and health insurance-related job lock

Job duration patterns are examined for evidence of health insurance-related job lock among chronically ill workers or workers whose family member is c hronically ill. Using Cox proportional hazard models to indicate the effect of health insurance and health status on worker's job duration we allow fo r more general insurance effects than that shown in the existing literature . Data for workers in Indiana predating the Health Insurance Portability an d Accountability Act (HIPAA) are used to examine the potential effect of HI PAA on job mobility. Among the workers in this sample who relied on their e mployer for coverage, chronic illness reduced job mobility by about 40 perc ent as compared with otherwise similar workers who did not rely on their em ployer for coverage. Results reported here identify previously under-apprec iated job lock among chronically ill workers and workers whose family membe r is chronically ill, clarify how one best researches job lock, and indicat e the potential effect of policies aimed at alleviating job lock and promot ing inter-employer worker mobility. (C) 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.