"Government Mandates and Employer-Based Health Insurance: Who is Still Not Covered?".

• Author: Vaness, David
• Position: Brief Article

Vanness, David and Wolfe, Barbara

The LaFollette Policy Report, Spring/Summer 1999, PP. 12-19.

This article investigates why a substantial number of Americans go without health insurance coverage when health insurance and health insurance subsidies are available through government programs to a majority of citizens. The authors contend that employers will only offer coverage to their employees if it does not eliminate their net profit. Due to the presence of the minimum wage law, employers are not able to reconcile the cost of health care; consequently, employers are reluctant to offer such coverage to low-wage workers. Although a nondiscrimination law was established to eliminate the ability of firms to discriminate between wage groups, employers attempt to dodge the nondiscrimination rules by: 1) shifting certain types of low-skill jobs to other firms; 2) shifting low-wage work to part-time employment that is exempt from the law; 3) increasing the hours worked by employees to...