Health insurance coverage and sources of advice in entrepreneurship: Gender differences

Most of the previous literature examining health insurance and entrepreneurship focused on the effects of provisions of health insurance coverage on the decision to start or end self-employment. This paper takes a different approach and investigates the decision to purchase health insurance once self-employed. Using data from the US Federal Reserve Board’s 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances, we found that in 2016 (when full provisions of the Affordable Care Act were in place) the self-employed were less likely to be insured, especially females who in the general population are more likely to be insured. Compared to the general population, the odds of being covered by health insurance were 62% lower for self-employed males and 83% lower for self-employed females. Additionally, self-employed females were less likely to be insured when they reported using friends and family as a source of financial information.