The worksite is an increasingly important point of access for alcohol prevention and treatment services. The prevalence of alcohol problems among adults in the labor force means that worksite programs have the potential to reduce significantly the adverse health and safety consequences of alcohol abuse. Yet the future of these programs does not depend upon the health and safety consequences per se, but upon the impact of firms profits. Currently there appear to be strong economic incentives for worksite alcohol abuse services, but these incentives may be sensitive to current and proposed policies. To gain insight into the possible effect of policies, an econometric study will be conducted of firms' decisions to offer worksite alcohol abuse services. Although research in labor economics and alcohol prevention has addressed closely related topics, previous research has not studied the determinants of worksite alcohol abuse services. A firm's decision to offer worksite alcohol abuse services depends upon: Hypotheses 1 (H1) whether the firm provides health insurance benefits; (H2) the tax environment faced by the firm; and (H3) the availability and extent of publicly provided alcohol abuse services. To test these hypotheses, four specific tasks will be completed. (i) Develop a conceptual economic model of the incentives for profit-maximizing firms to provide alcohol treatment and prevention services at the worksite. (ii) Conduct a descriptive multivariate econometric analysis of secondary data to identify worksite characteristics associated with the provision of alcohol treatment and prevention services. Probit models will be estimated using data from the 1992 National Survey of Worksite Health Promotion Activities. (iii) Augment the data and estimate a respecified econometric model using state-level measures of the tax and economic environment faced by the worksite. (iv) Conduct simulations of the benefit-cost ratio of worksite treatment and prevention services under alternative policy scenarios. The proposed research will provide policy-relevant evidence on whether a form of complementarity exists between health insurance benefits and worksite alcohol abuse services. The health alliances proposed under national health care reform may eliminate this complementarity and have the unintended consequence of reducing firms' economic incentives for worksite alcohol abuse services. The research also will address the incentive effects of tax policies and public alcohol abuse services.
| Kenkel, D S (1997) Self-insurance and worksite alcohol programs: an econometric analysis. J Stud Alcohol 58:211-9 |
