AbstractA sample of Danish citizens (n = 2000) was asked to participate in a hypothetical experiment in which they could self‐insure against a certain loss in income across two periods of time (one in which the person is in good health and one in which the person is in poorer health). Our results suggest that reduced health impacts on the marginal utility of consumption, but not in a linear fashion. Amongst a majority of respondents inferior, health increases the marginal utility of consumption for intermediate health states, whereas this is not the case for less and more severe health states. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.