Considerations in Work Choices of US Farm Households: The Role of Health Insurance

Most Americans receive their health insurance through employer-sponsored programs. Because farmers are self-employed, it has not been clear whether persons in farm households are as likely to have health insurance as all U.S. persons. We find that persons in farm-operator households are just as likely to have health insurance coverage. The majority of farm households allocate time to off-farm work that often provides employer-sponsored insurance. We estimate a two-stage simultaneous probit model to quantify the role of health insurance in increasing the likelihood of operators and spouses allocating time to off-farm work.