Did the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate increase premiums?

Briggs Depew and James Bailey

Journal of Health Economics, 2015, vol. 41, issue C, 1-14

Abstract: We investigate the impact of the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate on insurance premiums. The expansion of dependent coverage under the ACA allows young adults to remain on their parent's private health insurance plans until the age of 26. We find that the mandate has led to a 2.5–2.8 percent increase in premiums for health insurance plans that cover children, relative to single-coverage plans. We are able to conclude that employers did not pass on the entire premium increase to employees through higher required plan contributions.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act; Health insurance premium; Insurance mandate; Risk pool; Dependent instance coverage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I13 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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Working Paper: Did the Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Mandate Increase Premiums? (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:41:y:2015:i:c:p:1-14

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.01.004

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