TY - JOUR T1 - The incidence of the healthcare costs of chronic conditions. JF - International Journal of Health Economics and Management Y1 - 2021 A1 - Lee, Kyung Min A1 - Jeung, Chanup KW - Chronic disease KW - Compensating wage differential KW - Employer-sponsored health insurance KW - Wage AB -

Who pays for the costs of chronic conditions? In this paper, we examine whether 50-64-year old workers covered by employer-sponsored insurance bear healthcare costs of chronic conditions in the form of lower wages. Using a difference-in-differences approach with data from the Health and Retirement Study, we find that workers with chronic diseases receive significantly lower wages than healthy workers when they are covered by employer-sponsored insurance. Our findings suggest that higher healthcare costs of chronic conditions can explain the substantial part of the wage gap between workers with and without chronic diseases.

VL - 21 IS - 4 ER -