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    J Health Econ. 2008 Jul;27(4):1109-28. Epub 2007 Dec 23.

    A discrete choice decomposition analysis of racial and ethnic differences in children's health insurance coverage.

    Pylypchuk Y, Selden TM.

    Social and Scientific Systems, 8757 Georgia Avenue, 12th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910, United States.

    This paper presents a multivariate decomposition analysis of racial and ethnic differences in children's health insurance using the 2004-2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We present two methodological contributions. First, we adapt a recently-developed matching decomposition method for use with sample-weighted data. Second, we develop a fully nonparametric approach that implements decomposition through weight adjustments. Accounting for the black-white wealth gap: a nonparametric approach. Journal of the American Statistical Association 97, 663-673]. Differences in observed characteristics explain large percentages of racial and ethnic coverage differences. Important contributors include poverty levels, parent education, family structure (for black children), and immigration-related factors (for Hispanic children). We also examine racial and ethnic differences in parent offers of employer-sponsored insurance and in children's coverage conditional on having a parent offer. Comparison of our linear, nonlinear, and nonparametric results suggests researchers may face a trade-off between robustness and precision when selecting among decomposition methodologies for discrete outcomes.

    PMID: 18242743 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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