Full Citation

Title: The Effects of Marital Status & Gender on Health Care Insurance Coverage in the United States

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: Having health insurance is a crucial factor for many to sustain life in America. This studyexamines the demographic determinants of health care coverage within the United States with afocus on how gender and marital status influence the likelihood of having health insurance. Usingthe human capital theory and the theory of statistical discrimination, it is predicted that marriedfemales will have a higher probability of being insured than divorced and separated females. Also,divorced males are predicted to have a higher probability of coverage than divorced females. Thedata for this research is retrieved from the United States Census Bureau Current PopulationSurvey and consists of a large sample of adults aged 30 to 65. An OLS and probit regression areused to conduct this study, as well as descriptive statistics. The principle finding is that marriedadults have a much higher probability of having insurance than single, divorced, and widowedadults. It is also found that men and women do not differ greatly in their likelihood of havinghealth insurance. One exception is that single, divorced and widowed women are somewhat lesslikely to have employer provided insurance than their male counterparts.

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Authors: Kong, Jessica S.T.

Institution: Illinois Wesleyan University

Department: Economics

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Degree: Honors Project

Publisher Location: Digital Commons@ IWU

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Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Gender, Health

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