Jobless rate has heavy impact on men’s health coverage, study says
The unemployment rate in the U.S. has taken a major toll on men when it comes to health insurance, according to a new paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
The impact is most significant on white, college-educated men between the ages of 50 and 64, researchers discovered.
They found that for every 1 percentage point increase in unemployment, 1.67% fewer men in this category had health coverage. The correlation did not hold true for women and children.
However, for every 1 point increase in the jobless rate, the number of children in public health programs increases 4.69%.
“We estimate that 9.3 million adult Americans, the vast majority of whom were men, lost health insurance due to a higher unemployment rate along during the 2007-09 recession,” wrote the authors, John Cawley, Asako Moriya, and Kolsai Simon. “This is roughly nine times more than lost health insurance during the previous (2001) recession.”
The NBER is a private, nonprofit nonpartisan organization that studies the impact of economic issues on American society.
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Employment Assistance Programs (EAP) are expecting a flood of calls relating to eldercare problems, a report by the Chicago-based EAP specialist company ComPsych says.
The reason: The holidays are the time of the year when children and other family members are most likely to call or visit elderly relatives and friends. They may be surprised at what they find.
ComPsych is anticipating an 18% increase in these types of calls from worried employees as the holidays approach.
“People can be surprised and upset by how their parent’s or elder relative’s situation has deteriorated since they saw them last,” said Richard Chaifetz, ComPsych CEO. “This can include worsening health, mobility and cognitive problems.”
He suggests employers take the time to remind their workers about work-life resources for eldercare issues before employees make their holiday trips.
- John Nelander, Contributing Editor