Does Health Insurance Make People Happier? Evidence from Massachusetts' Healthcare Reform

Seonghoon Kim () and Kanghyock Koh ()
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Kanghyock Koh: Korea University

No 11879, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the effects of Massachusetts' healthcare reform on individuals' subjective well-being. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we find that the reform significantly improved Massachusetts residents' overall life-satisfaction. This result is robust to various sensitivity checks and a falsification test. We also find that the reform improved mental health. An additional analysis on the Tennessee healthcare reform supports our findings' external validity. Using the reform as an instrument for health insurance coverage, we estimate its large impact on overall life-satisfaction. Our results provide novel evidence on the psychological consequences of Massachusetts' healthcare reform.

Keywords: health insurance; life satisfaction; happiness; subjective well-being; Massachusetts healthcare reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I13 I18 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2018-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-ias and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published as 'Health insurance and subjective well-being: Evidence from two healthcare reforms in the United States' in: Health Economics, 2022, 31 (1), 233-249

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