Yaa Akosa Antwi, PhD, Assistant Professor
Title: “Minimum wage and Nursing homes”

Mark Katz Meiselbach, PhD Candidate
Title: “Financial Risk and the Decision of Small Employers to Self-Fund Health Insurance: Evidence from Stop Loss Regulation in California"

Research Objective: Most individuals with employer-sponsored insurance are enrolled in self-funded plans, where employers bear the financial risk of the plans. Self-funded plans are exempt from state insurance regulations (e.g., essential health benefit requirements). Enrollment in self-funded plans has steadily risen in recent years, especially among small employers (<50 employees). Stop loss is an insurance policy purchased by self-funded employers that covers their health care expenditures exceeding a designated attachment point, limiting the financial risk of self-funding. To discourage self-funding, California implemented SB-161 in 2014, which requires that the stop loss attachment point purchased by small employers exceed at least $40,000. I aim to evaluate the impact of this stop loss regulation in California on the prevalence of and enrollment in self-funded plans.