Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Behaviors After 3 Years

Charles Courtemanche, James Marton, Benjamin Ukert, Aaron Yelowitz and Daniela Zapata ()
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Daniela Zapata: IMPAQ International

Eastern Economic Journal, 2019, vol. 45, issue 1, No 2, 7-33

Abstract: Abstract This paper examines the impacts of the affordable care act (ACA)—which substantially increased insurance coverage through regulations, mandates, subsidies, and Medicaid expansions—on behaviors related to future health risks after 3 years. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and an identification strategy that leverages variation in pre-ACA uninsured rates and state Medicaid expansion decisions, we show that the ACA increased preventive care utilization along several dimensions, but increased risky drinking. These results are driven by the private portions of the law, as opposed to the Medicaid expansion. We also conduct subsample analyses by income and age.

Keywords: Affordable care act; Health insurance; Medicaid; Health behavior; Preventive care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I13 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:easeco:v:45:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41302-018-0119-4

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DOI: 10.1057/s41302-018-0119-4

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