Associations between minimum wage policy and acces... [Am J Public Health. 2011] - PubMed result

Am J Public Health. 2011 Feb;101(2):359-67. Epub 2010 Dec 16.

Associations between minimum wage policy and access to health care: evidence from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1996-2007.

McCarrier KP, Zimmerman FJ, Ralston JD, Martin DP.

Source
Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
kpm25@u.washington.edu


Abstract
OBJECTIVES: We examined whether minimum wage policy is associated with access to medical care among low-skilled workers in the United States.

METHODS: We used multilevel logistic regression to analyze a data set consisting of individual-level indicators of uninsurance and unmet medical need from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and state-level ecological controls from the US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and several other sources in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1996 and 2007.

RESULTS: Higher state-level minimum wage rates were associated with significantly reduced odds of reporting unmet medical need after control for the ecological covariates, substate region fixed effects, and individual demographic and health characteristics (odds ratio = 0.853; 95% confidence interval = 0.750, 0.971). Minimum wage rates were not significantly associated with being uninsured.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher minimum wages may be associated with a reduced likelihood of experiencing unmet medical need among low-skilled workers, and do not appear to be associated with uninsurance. These findings appear to refute the suggestion that minimum wage laws have detrimental effects on access to health care, as opponents of the policies have suggested.

PMID:21164102[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Associations between minimum wage policy and acces... [Am J Public Health. 2011] - PubMed result