Re: Health insurance for kids
Jeffrey Rous wrote: > When I was in grad school, my wife's health insurance policy through > work allowed an employee to add a spouse for $1000 per year (I cannot > remember the exact numbers, but these are close) or add a spouse and > children for $2000 per year. And it didn't matter whether you had 1 > child or 10. > > Since she worked for UNC, I figured it was a political decision. I'm pretty sure that it's not. My wife's private insurance works the same way. Unless regulations make the private sector copy the public sector. > How can this be rational? At least for male employees, it's plausible that those with more children are both older and therefore more experienced, and more responsible/stable holding age constant. A guy with five kids is going to be very concerned about remaining employed. > -Jeffrey Rous > > > > -- Prof. Bryan Caplan Department of Economics George Mason University http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] "The game of just supposing Is the sweetest game I know... And if the things we dream about Don't happen to be so, That's just an unimportant technicality." Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, *Showboat*
Re: Health insurance for kids
Otherwise, perhaps people feel > a social > obligation to help support children in the society. > This behavior might also be for PR purposes. If some textile worker is laid off b/c their labor is more expensive than foreign they might not be as likely to play the part of Marxian victim of industry to the media with all the [rationally] irational remarks that come with that if their kids were relatively cheap to provide medical insurance for. That of course assumes that employers of unskilled laborers behave similarly to the employers of skilled labor. I'd speculate that this is the caseunskilled laborers have a versatile set of skills, and a wide universe of prospective employers if they lose a job, thus the costs of groaning after losing it are low. On the other hand, an immature response if one was fired from a proffesional position might have more dire consequences, and thus possibly a lower chance of say, a fired law partner complaining to the media. Daniel L. Lurker - Original Message - From: Robin Hanson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 5:05 pm Subject: Re: Health insurance for kids > At 02:52 PM 6/17/2003 -0500, Jeffrey Rous wrote: > >When I was in grad school, my wife's health insurance policy > through work > >allowed an employee to add a spouse for $1000 per year (I cannot > remember > >the exact numbers, but these are close) or add a spouse and > children for > >$2000 per year. And it didn't matter whether you had 1 child or 10. > > Are employees with more kids more attractive as employees? If so, > this > this could be a compensating wage. Otherwise, perhaps people feel > a social > obligation to help support children in the society. > > > > Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu > Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University > MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030- > 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323 > > >
Re: Health insurance for kids
At 02:52 PM 6/17/2003 -0500, Jeffrey Rous wrote: When I was in grad school, my wife's health insurance policy through work allowed an employee to add a spouse for $1000 per year (I cannot remember the exact numbers, but these are close) or add a spouse and children for $2000 per year. And it didn't matter whether you had 1 child or 10. Are employees with more kids more attractive as employees? If so, this this could be a compensating wage. Otherwise, perhaps people feel a social obligation to help support children in the society. Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030- 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
Re: Health insurance for kids
> Now I work for the state of Texas and my policy is set up similarly. > Adding my wife costs $150 per month and adding any number of children > costs $120 per month. And her policy at a law firm is also structured the > same way. > How can this be rational? > -Jeffrey Rous Find out whether the insurance company has laid down this policy or whether the employer is subsidizing the extra children. Fred Foldvary = [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Health insurance for kids
When I was in grad school, my wife's health insurance policy through work allowed an employee to add a spouse for $1000 per year (I cannot remember the exact numbers, but these are close) or add a spouse and children for $2000 per year. And it didn't matter whether you had 1 child or 10. Since she worked for UNC, I figured it was a political decision. Now I work for the state of Texas and my policy is set up similarly. Adding my wife costs $150 per month and adding any number of children costs $120 per month. And her policy at a law firm is also structured the same way. How can this be rational? -Jeffrey Rous
