Historical Racial Oppression and Healthcare Access: Unveiling Disparities Post-ACA in the American South

Vinish Shrestha ()
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Vinish Shrestha: Department of Economics, Towson University

No 2024-09, Working Papers from Towson University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study investigates geographical disparities in the implementation and effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by linking them to the historical legacy of racial oppression in the American South. Using a cross-border regression discontinuity design that leverages variations in racial oppression intensity, we find that bordering counties in states with less oppressive regime experienced significantly greater benefits from the ACA compared to neighboring counties in more oppressive states. This divergence in insurance outcomes, which did not exist before the ACA, underscores the influence of historical racial regimes on contemporary policy efficacy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that political preferences from the Jim Crow era are correlated with the observed variations in ACA effectiveness. Our findings suggest that the racialization of the ACA is deeply rooted in the historical context of racial oppression in the American South.

Keywords: ACA; Oppressive racial regime; Disparity; American South. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B15 D02 I10 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2024-07, Revised 2024-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-his, nep-pke and nep-ure
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