Medical Care Spending and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Workers' Compensation Reforms
American Economic Review
vol. 108,
no. 10, October 2018
(pp. 2995-3027)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Medical care represents an important component of workers' compensation benefits with the potential to improve health and post- injury labor outcomes, but little is known about the relationship between medical care spending and the labor outcomes of injured workers. We exploit the 2003–2004 California workers' compensation reforms which reduced medical spending disproportionately for workers incurring low back injuries. We link administrative claims data to earnings records for injured workers and their uninjured coworkers. We find that workers with low back injuries experienced a 7.6% post-reform decline in medical care, and an 8.1% drop in post-injury earnings relative to other injured workers.Citation
Powell, David, and Seth Seabury. 2018. "Medical Care Spending and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Workers' Compensation Reforms." American Economic Review, 108 (10): 2995-3027. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150912Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
- I12 Health Behavior
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J28 Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials