Hispanic Workers and Employer Sponsored Health Insurance

Abstract

Hispanic workers are particularly disadvantaged with respect to access to employer based health insurance. Low levels of education and correspondingly low earnings as well as language difficulties contribute to the limited access that Hispanic workers have to employer-sponsored health insurance. At the same time, Hispanic workers are often more stably employed than their non-Hispanic counterparts. This paper compares the impact of employment, earnings and demographic characteristics on the probability of receiving an offer of employment based health insurance by Hispanic and non-Hispanic workers and on the take-up of insurance when it is offered. The paper finds that, once human capital, immigration status, and employment characteristics are controlled, Hispanic workers actually have a higher probability of being offered employment-sponsored health insurance than non-Hispanic workers. Take-up of offers of employer sponsored insurance are lower for Hispanic immigrants than for non-immigrant, non-Hispanic workers but there is no difference in take-up between U.S. bom Hispanic workers and non-immigrant, non-Hispanic workers.